At the Beginning
by Tigress08
Summary: After the Arrancar War, Ichigo is alone and apathetic about his life, until a mysterious stranger gives him the chance to do it all over again. Watch as Ichigo goes back to protect his loved ones from their destinies.
1. Prologue

_Gone._ They were all gone. The Arrancar war was over, long over and the world was safe, but the people in it or at least the people who mattered most to him had all left him behind. He was tired. After all, it wasn't many 25-year-olds who could say they saved the world numerous times, seen the things he'd seen, and still had the energy to go about getting a job and continuing life.

He now roamed the empty sands of Hueco Mundo; even hollows wouldn't approach him for fear of the enormous reiatsu he broadcasted. He didn't even try to hide his power anymore; there was no point really, save to keep the more volatile hollows off his tail. Sighing he sat down, all of sudden in the middle of the endless desert, wondering what to do next. His zankpakto and his dark half were quiet (for once), leaving him to his thoughts.

Out of nowhere a black-robed figure stood before him; the suddenness of its appearance almost made him jump into a battle stance but his apathy toward the world and toward life in general, had caused him to be less cautious and less wary. Standing at his leisure, he stood up and half-glared at the black-robed figure, a hood covering its features.

"Who are you?" he asked.

**Ichigo Kurosaki, you sure have come down, haven't you? **It said, echoing in Ichigo's very soul. Ichigo raised an eyebrow. **Would you still rise to save the world once more, even when you feel that you have nothing to protect, even when you have gained nothing but suffering and heartache?**

Closing his eyes, Ichigo pondered the question, and looked deep into his soul to find the answer. When he opened them again, his amber eyes held a fiery determination that he had once thought lost. "I will always rise when the world needs me." The figure in black seemed to look at him or rather through him, before nodding.

**Good answer. You are an interesting one, Ichigo, and perhaps one of my favorites. I am sorry for the hand Lady Fate has dealt you; in a way, she is much more ruthless than I. However, for the sacrifices you have given for this world and the attitude with which you dealt with it, I will offer you a deal.**

Ichigo's ears perked up at that. "What kind of deal?"

**I offer you a second chance at your life, starting at where all your troubles began. However, when you finally die, hopefully in many years from now, you will not join your friends and family in Soul Society. Instead, you will be my successor. **

"Say what?" Ichigo said, his eyebrows going up in shock. The black-robed figure sighed, a skeleton hand appearing from beneath his robes and in that hand, a scythe of enormous size.

**I am the First Shinigami, the true Death God, and I have been at this job for years, watching over and guarding the careful balance of souls and humans. However, I have grown tired and need my rest, therefore I will leave you to handle it, after your death of course. **Ichigo could not believe his ears.

"If you are the First Death God, does that mean you are the Spirit King as well?" He asked, curious.

**Yes. **

_Wow._ Ichigo thought over the deal carefully, realizing this was completely reckless, and, after conversing with his zankpakto and other half (both of whom would have killed him if he had made such a decision without consulting them first) he nodded his agreement.

**Very well then, this will be interesting. You will retain all of your memories from this life and all of your powers. **The robed skeleton raised the scythe, grinning madly. **However, I advise you not to affect the timeline too much, it tends to mess with the mind. **And with that the skeleton brought the scythe down upon Ichigo who stood, glaring defiantly.

_I'll get them back, all of them and I will protect them with every ounce of my life. _He thought as the scythe came down, and then cold numbing darkness overwhelmed him . . .

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A/N: I'm not one to be very diligent with updating, but if you like the idea let me know and i'll be sure to update faster : )


	2. The memories

_Italicized -_ memories/ thoughts

**Bold** - Zangetsu talking

**_Bold/Italicized_ - Shiro talking**

Disclaimer: I do not nor ever will own Bleach (sigh) so let me sit in my corner and cry.

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_Chapter 1: The memories . . ._

_"When was it that he stopped smiling?" _

_"She filled up the center that our family revolved around . . . And I took that away."_

* * *

Ichigo awoke, gasping for breath and clutching his head. Where was he? Were they being attacked? God, his body hurt. What was going on? Why couldn't he remember? Thousands of thoughts going through his head, thousands of memories.

_**Relax, king.** _Ichigo heard his other half say to him. He slowed his breathing and heart rate down.

_Shiro? Zangetsu? What's going on? _he asked the other parts of his soul.

It was Zangetsu who answered. **You do remember that black-robed person who claimed he was the First Shinigami, correct? **Ichigo nodded vigorously. **Well, I believe he did what he said he would do. We are in the past. **

_What?**What?** _said both Ichigo and Shiro, before mentally glaring at each other_. _

Zangetsu sighed in exasperation_. **Look at your physical body, Ichigo****.**_

Ichigo opened his eyes and looked around. It seemed like his old room, but it felt bigger for some reason. His bed felt right, everything felt right, then he looked at his hands. They were a child's hands, no scars, no strength. _What the hell?_ Quickly he jumped out of bed and ran to the full length mirror. There, staring back at him with eyes far too knowledgeable for his age was a nine-year-old child. _This can't be happening. How the hell am I nine years old?!_

_**Hahahaha. King's a chibi boy!!!! **Shiro cackled. Ichigo banged his head against the mirror as he stared at his younger reflection. The hollow was still cackling, so out of amusement, Ichigo materialized both Zangetsu and Shiro into his room, a feat he had learned from Muramasa (see current Bleach arc if you don't recognize this name) in order to train by himself. _

"Hey how come Shiro's not a child?" Ichigo cried angrily, pointing at the hollow accusingly like the child he was.

**_Because I'm a part of your soul, and technically your soul is 25, despite the fact that you look like a child right now, _Shiro sneered. **

Crossing his arms, Ichigo sat down on his bed in a huff, grumbling something about the world being unfair and that the hollow should suffer just as much as him. After he calmed down a bit, he looked at his zankapkto who had been calmly watching their reactions. "What should we do about this, old man?" Zangetsu shrugged his shoulders in indifference. Ichigo sighed. "Well, first I need to find out exactly what part of the timeline we are at and then we need to . . . " He heard someone coming up the stairs, Zangetsu and Shiro vanished instantly. Softly someone knocked on the door before coming in.

"Ichigo, dear it's time to get up," a soft velvet yet very female voice. Ichigo's eyes went wide as he sat on the bed, his arms falling weakly to his side. _It couldn't be. _

He watched as a brown-haired, amber eyed beautiful woman walked into his room, smiling at him softly. "Ichigo, you look like you've seen a ghost."

_Mom. _

For a second, he couldn't breathe, couldn't think. All he could do is stare at her. She couldn't be there. No way. He could not be so lucky. Yet she stood there in all her beauty and motherly grace.

"Mom!" he cried out and ran to her, hugging her fiercely and trying vainly to cover the tears that suddenly leapt up with force. She looked shocked at first then leaned down and hugged him back.

"Oh Ichigo what's wrong?" she asked, trying to understand why her young prideful son was crying so suddenly. He sniffled, then drying his tears with the back of his hand, he smiled at her.

"I had a nightmare, sorry mom," he said, hoping that would suffice as an excuse.

She nodded, her eyes revealing some concern and understanding. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Ichigo shook his head, grinning like a buffoon. His tears had stopped and now he couldn't help but smile. _She was here. _He could still protect her and his family_._ They were all still alive. A warm feeling spread over his body as he thought of the future possibilities. _He could save them all._

Masaki Kurosaki didn't know what to make of her son and his strange actions. When she went in to wake him up this morning, she had expected him to be excited, after all today he had karate class and for some reason he enjoyed trying to get stronger. Instead, she found him crying like he hadn't seen her in a long while, and then after she asked what's wrong, she realized. He wasn't sad or scared; he was happily crying. So confusing!

Masaki smiled at him. "Well, Ichigo, are you excited about today?"

Ichigo's smile paused for a second. Crap, need cover up. "What are we doing today, mom?" he asked innocently, trying to act like a normal 9 year old.

She frowned for a second. "Why, you have your karate match with Tatsuki-chan today. Did you forget?"

Ichigo's eyes went wide as he realized what this meant before he smiled sheepishly, and putting a hand behind his head, he looked at her. "'Course not, mom. I'll be down in a second, kay?"

Masaki looked at her son, scrutinizingly. Then smiled. "Alrighty, honey, I'll be downstairs with your silly father." And then she left.

Ichigo's smile faded with her absence and for a second, he wanted to chase after her, to make sure she was real, that this was real. Instead, he fell on his bed, going deep within his mind. _Zangetsu, Shiro, we need to strategize. _The other halves of his soul nodded, accepting his indirect plea for help.

**I analyzed your reiatsu already, **said Zangetsu. Ichigo smiled. _Always the thinker, Zan. **I****t's normal but it is damaging your younger physical body, putting too much strain on it, which is causing your body to hurt. I'm afraid we are going to have to seal some of it away. **_

Ichigo nodded in agreement, ignoring some of the loud protests coming from Shiro_.** Okay, that's fine. How? **_

Zangetsu materialized in front of Ichigo and laid a hand upon his right shoulder. A tattoo similar to the marks on his hollow masks appeared there. Ichigo looked at it, feeling a large portion of his power diminish. _Wow, that's amazing, Zangetsu, _he said. If he had to guess, he was currently at ten percent. Perfect for the nine year old Vizard.

**Yes, because of its nature, the tattoo can only be seen by those with spiritual energy. Also I am in complete control of how much power we channel through it so you need not worry about being caught unawares without enough reiatsu to fight. **Zangetsu explained before going into his mind-scape.

Ichigo nodded his thanks then turned his attention to Shiro. _Can we still use our hollow powers?_ he asked.

Shiro frowned, thinking for a second (A task he was not particularly fond of). **_Yes, even with our power down so much, we can still do some simple things like a cero in this form, . . . it's enough to handle _him_ if that's what you're asking. _Shiro and Ichigo shared a feral grin**.

_God help Grand Fischer should he come across this particular nine year old,_ thought Zangetsu. How right he was.

**

* * *

**

Issin Kurosaki, although slightly perverted and weird, was a very loving husband, diligent to his wife's every need. So he knew instinctively as he watched her come down from Ichigo's bedroom that something was wrong.

"Masaki, my darling, what is it?" he asked, while folding up the newspaper he was reading, giving her his full attention. The young twins were sitting at the table as well, eating/playing with their breakfast. Masaki frowned, still in thought as she cleaned the kitchen table.

"Well, I went to go wake Ichigo up, but it seems he had a nightmare. As soon as he saw me, his eyes went really wide like he couldn't believe I was there and then he cried in my arms. I think something's wrong, dear," she said to Issin, who frowned. Ichigo had stopped crying over nightmares a while ago, trying to be the 'man' of the house. Whatever it was must have really scared him.

"I'll go check on him in a few minutes," Issin said, trying to put his wife's mind at ease. She smiled brightly, causing Issin's eyes to explode into lovey-dovey hearts. "You are so beautiful, my angel and I love you sooooooo much." Masaki rolled her eyes at the silly antics of her husband. "Yes I love you too, dear. Now go make sure Ichigo is okay."

Issin nodded before leaping up and running to his son's room in a very overdramatic way. He knocked on the door, softly. Hearing no answer, he opened the door quietly. He could see Ichigo laying on the bed, his brow furrowed, a small scowl on his face, like he was thinking about something.

"Ichigo?" he whispered. Ichigo's eyes snapped open, and he jumped out of bed faster than Issin could blink. Shocked, Issin almost backed up. The look in little Ichigo's eyes wasn't normal; it was wild and feral, glazed like an animal ready for battle. Then Ichigo's eyes refocused and looked at Issin for the first time with wide eyes.

Memories were rapidly going through Ichigo's head, _of his dad's super son kick, his dad's perverted comments about his sisters, his dad's silly actions with his mom, his dad telling him he was a shinigami, his dad dying in his arms after saving his sisters from a hollow. That event had almost broken his soul completely and hundreds of hollows had died that day in his grief. _Ichigo forced himself to calm down, and smile.

"Ah, hey Dad, good morning!" Ichigo said with as much enthusiasm he could muster. Issin frowned at first (he could obviously tell the smile was forced), then suddenly brought his son into a hug. Ichigo stiffened at the contact, and Issin noticed. "Ichigo what's wrong?" he asked. Ichigo shook his head and almost broke down at his dad's loving actions. Instead, he backed away from his arms and looked at him with serious eyes.

"Dad, d'you promise to protect Mom?"

Although the seriousness in little Ichigo's manner was rather comical, Issin realized there was something deeper in the question so he kneeled down and looked into Ichigo's eyes. "Always."

Ichigo looked serious as he scrutinized his father, then smiled in a child's carefree manner. "Okay, good, then I promise to always protect her too, even from things she can't see."

Issin blinked. "What do you mean?"

Ichigo frowned, realizing his mistake, and smiled awkwardly. "Ah nothing, just that I'll always protect her, okay dad?"

Smiling, Issin nodded then headed out the door, "Okay, son, get dressed then hurry downstairs; your beauuuuuuuutiful mother is making breakfast." Ichigo nodded eagerly then began to take his pajama top off, just as  
Issin closed his bedroom door. Sighing, Issin leaned against Ichigo's door, listening to his son quietly. Something was wrong. Besides his son's actions that were a little outside his personality, there were other supernatural things that threw Issin, the ex-captain shinigami, off-guard. 1) His son had reiatsu, which was highly unusual for a normal human, 2) his reiatsu was extremely large, especially if Issin could feel it while still in gigai, (if he had to guess it was low-lieutenant level) and 3) there was some strange tattoo on Ichigo's shoulder. It looked like a hollow's mask. _What was going on?_ he wondered. Frowning, Issin made a decision as he walked downstairs. _Looks like I'll have to go see Uehara-san_, he thought, smiling. He hadn't seen his old drinking buddy in a while and this made a perfect excuse.

Ichigo felt a chill go up his spine as he put on his karate outfit. _This feels like Uehara, _he thought, scowling. He planned to stay far, far away from that wacko who would easily sense his reaitsu and want to ask questions, questions that would ruin the timeline. Ichigo heard Zangetsu and Shiro mutter their agreements. Too many times they had been used by that mad scientist in one of his creepy experiments. After putting his karate outfit on, Ichigo eagerly ran downstairs acting every bit the excited nine year old.

"Ah Ichigo,"said Maskai as she continued making breakfast. Issin was already sitting at the table, playing with the young twins both of whom were incredibl messy with their food. Ichigo couldn't help but grin at seeing Yuzu and Karin again and quickly came up behind them giving them a hug which they returned eagerly.

"G'mornin Ichgo," they said, the words barely forming correctly in their newly discovered voices. Ichigo grinned even more. They were so cute. _Those smiles, I'll protect them. _Then he sat down at the table next to his father.

"Ichigo, I made your favorite," said Masaki, putting his breakfast on the table. Ichigo looked at it eagerly. It was his mother's homemade French toast and eggs, something he hadn't had since she passed away. Again he felt his emotions overwhelming him. God, how was he supposed to act like everything was normal? Swallowing the happiness in the back of his throat, Ichigo grinned. "Thanks, Mom!" He chowed down munching away at the eggs first. Masaki almost laughed at his enthusiasm. Pretty soon, breakfast was over and Issin grabbed the two (now clean) little girls into his arms and headed off to work, telling Ichigo to fight well and giving Masaki a kiss. It almost seemed like a normal family day, if Ichigo didn't know any better.

"Oh gosh, it's raining so heavily," Masaki mentioned as she watched Issin and her daughters leave. Ichigo looked out at the rain, his eyes growing dark at the memories it brought up. Masaki again noticed the change, her son staring at the rain with a horribly morose expression. "Ichigo, what's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"

Her voice brought him back to reality, shaking off the dark memories and bringing a steel determination into his eyes. He looked at his mom and smiled. "Nothing, mom, let's go to karate class!"

She smiled back, handing him his raincoat and putting on hers, while grabbing an umbrella. Then hand-in-hand they headed down the road. Masaki noticed that her son was quiet and tense for most of the walk, even pausing and glaring at a certain point before continuing down. At first she thought he was nervous about his fight with Tatsuki-chan, but now she wasn't so sure. "Are you okay, Ichigo? You're not nervous about fighting Tatsuki-chan, are you?" she asked. Ichigo couldn't help but smirk at that. Little 9 year old Tatsuki although a little demon unto herself, was not even on the _scale_ of scary things he had fought in his lifetime. Not that his mother knew that so he just smiled at her then told her he was fine. In all honesty, he was excited and couldn't wait until the end of karate class. It was high past time Grand Fischer met his demise. He heard Shiro and Zangetsu rumble in agreement. Somewhere not too far away, a hollow felt a very eerie chill go up his spine.

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A/N: i hope i was able to capture their personalities. If you have any questions or suggestions, just review.

I'm not one to be very diligent with updating, but if you like the idea let me know and i'll be sure to update faster : ) thanks to all those who chose this story as one of their favorites.


	3. The first step

A/N: Ichigo vs. Grand Fischer and a Little Visit to a Certain Shopkeeper

_Italicized: _Ichigo

**_Bol/Italic: _Shiro**

**Bold: **Zangetsu

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and never will (sob)

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Kurosaki Isshin left his little girls in the care of one of his nurses around lunchtime then walked over to a certain mad scientist's store. He saw Tessai, sweeping in front and nodded a hello before walking into the rusty old place.

"Urahara-saaaaaaaannnnnnnnn!" he yelled, a loud grin on his face. Silence answered back. Sighing, Isshin walked further in, and found the ex-shinigami, lying on one of the couches in his living room, snoring away. Grumbling at the laziness of some people (people who didn't have the occupation of a doctor for example), Isshin decided to play a game, so he grabbed Urahara's hat quietly, writing BAKA in big bold letters across the front. Giggling at the joke, he put it back in place, on top of Urahara's head then nudged the sleeping scientist with his foot, careful to keep his face void of all amusement (not an easy task).

The man jumped up quickly in response, using a broom as a weapon, glaring madly about. "You'll never get me, you stupid hollows!!!!! Never!!!!!" Isshin couldn't hold back the laughter at this hilarious spectacle and decided at that point to roll on the floor in hysterics.

Urahara finally realizing where he was, who was laughing at him, and that hollows weren't attacking him, glared with menace at the Kurosaki father now rolling about on the ground. "Isshin! What the hell on you doing here, eh? I though Masaki banished you from coming here since you brought home that experiment of mine."

Isshin calmed down a bit, wiping away some of the tears the laughter had brought, looking at his old friend. "Oh, she did. Let's just say your little 'plant' induced with hollow energy that ate our dog was not her favorite thing in the world. It had me sleeping on the couch for a week, by the way," Isshin said, smiling a bit at the memory. What could he say? It was pretty funny.

Urahara at least had the decency to be shamed a bit, scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed way. "Yeah that wasn't my best experiment." Then he looked at Isshin with a raised eyebrow. "So why are you here then?" he asked amused.

Isshin's eyes grew serious as they often did about his family's wellbeing. "It's about Ichigo."

"Oh? Your son? Is he well? He's nine right now, right?"

"Yeah, he's doing great. However, I noticed recently that he has a rather large amount of reiatsu. Also he has some sort of weird tattoo on his right shoulder that looks similar to a hollow's mask. It's very strange and I was hoping you could have a look at him to figure out what it was." Urahara's eyes widened at the information. It was impossible for a normal human to have strong reiatsu. Hell, even a little reiatsu at all was rather rare. What could it mean?

Isshin watched as Urahara's eyes changed to that of a true scientist, gleaming with new theories, and for a second he was worried he had somehow opened Pandora's box but nonetheless, he needed Urahara's help with this one.

"When can I meet little Ichigo?" he asked. Isshin frowned at that.

"Well, what if I brought him by tonight? And I could bring the girls with me as well to play with Tessai-san. Masaki has her book club tonight so she should be none the wiser."

Just as he said this, a bunch of alarms went off, around the store, loud and red, screaming about hollows. Urahara jerked at the sudden noise and rushed over to where a lot of his more modern gadgets were. Isshin watched him interested. "So what does this thing do?" he asked, tapping one giant machine lightly. Urahara glared at him before answering as he continued to check monitors and take notes. "It monitors Karakura Town for large hollow signatures, in case there are any. But this one . . . it's impossible . . . there's one with the hollow signature of over level 7."

"Level 7?" Isshin asked, eyes wide, body tensing. Level 7 was higher than a third seat's power. Why would such a powerful hollow be here in this town? "Where is it?" Urahara showed him the exact point on his map, and Isshin's face paled a bit.

"That's near where Masaki and Ichigo are."

Curse words did not help grasp the situation but they sure as hell didn't hurt as Urahara expressed his realization. _Shit!_

_

* * *

_

A few minutes earlier, walking next to his mother on a splashing street, Ichigo was grinning.

"I can't believe you beat Tatsuki-chan, Ichigo. I'm so proud of you," said his mother, smiling softly from underneath the umbrella. The karate class had just finished and Ichigo could still remember Tatsuki's face in an expression of rage and indignation as he beat her with very exaggerated effort. Sure, his clumsy nine year old body didn't have any muscle mass or agility like he did before but his mind remembered every fighting technique ever ingrained in him by his numerous battles to the death with various opponents. Hell, he could have beaten her with his eyes closed. There was a certain sense of pride in that, something he couldn't help.

_Man, that look on her face was priceless. If that doesn't motivate her to train harder, I don't know what will, _he thought. This was the plan all three of them had agreed upon. Ichigo would meet his friends at the appropriate times, but he would train them in subtle ways and expose them to his stronger reiatsu. Hopefully, it'll be enough for all of them to evolve into better fighters long before they have to defend themselves from whatever comes their way.

_Ichigo . . . Ichigo . . . you should have told us sooner. We could've helped. _Their dying screams still echoed in his head and his eyes grew dark with the longing of battle.

_**Don't get too cocky, king. You never could beat her before this, no matter how may times you fought at least while you were human,**_ Ichigo heard Shiro snicker. Shiro was never one to read the mood. Zangetsu wisely remained silent.

It was in this moment that Grand Fischer had decided to make his great entrance, his bait of a young girl hanging by the morose riverbed. Ichigo's gaze didn't falter when he saw it. If anything it grew darker, more feral, with a battle grin unusual for a nine-year-old to wear.

_It's time to hunt. _

Grand Fischer didn't quite know what to make of his new prey. He had smelled the child's delicious reiatsu from miles away and it was just like a shinigami's but somehow better, more pure. So he had laid the bait and waited for the child to run towards him, innocent and so naive. The child didn't. Instead, the boy had looked at him, not just the bait, but right into his very (hollow) being, like he knew he was there, waiting. _There's something about this child, _Fischer thought mildly. If he hadn't been so greedy, Grand Fischer would've noticed Ichigo's eyes turn from amber to gold at the sight of him, his little child's body tensing with the need to pounce, his childish grin turning darker.

But he didn't; rather Fischer was elated as he saw the boy persuade his mother to cross the street safely, never keeping his eyes off of his bait. _Okay, now I'll just have two delicious morsels instead of one, _thought the hollow, its body tensing to strike as the fog surrounding the riverbank thickened. However, that wasn't meant to be. Suddenly the child with its mother disappeared into the fog, without a hint of their presence anywhere.

_Dammit!!_ The hollow thought, as it pulled its bait back, searching.

**Hahahaha, what's the matter, hollow? Have you lost your prey?** An eerie voice spoke from behind the fog, its darkness surrounding Grand Fischer completely. Fischer froze in his tracks, uncertain to what was beyond the mist. He could suddenly feel the boy's reiatsu, coming towards him yet fear began coiling up inside of him in premonition. Had it always been this ominous? The reiatsu felt strained and dark, like it was holding something very large and powerful in check.

_Could the child have been hiding his reiatsu? That was impossible, wasn't it?_

Then the orange-haired boy appeared before him, a small shadow against the fog. He was grinning, his eyes covered by his hair. _**I've been waiting for this day, hollow, for a really long time. **_The boy seemed to say.

Hollows are made of instinct, those primal emotions that rule before reasoning. For them, it is how they survive after their human life is taken away. Often times it is the thirst for battle that lingers. Grand Fischer although not a particularly old soul, had relied on his instincts so far and despite his battle desires, right now, staring at this little boy, every bit of his soul screamed to run away from this powerful creature in front of him. So that's what he did, or at least started to do. He had not run a few paces away in the fog when again the little boy was already standing in front of him, blocking his escape. Fischer leapt back from the boy, staring in shock.

"Wh . . . what are you?" he asked shaking his hollow mask in shock.

The boy merely smiled. _**You needn't know. **_The orange-haired enigma held up his hand in front of him. Fischer eyed it suspiciously. _What was he doing?_ Then he felt it, an enormous collection of spirit energy was gathering toward the boy's hand and as he watched, a sharp red ball filled with strong and potent hollow reiatsu formed. It cast an eerie light upon the boy's face and for the first time Fischer could see the boy's eyes. They were black with gold irises and with the red glow he looked exactly like a demon from hell.

Fischer couldn't move, the reiatsu just from that red energy alone as well as the terror he was feeling paralyzed his body to the point where he could only watch as the red ball was aimed at him. _**Grand Fischer, for crimes committed I judge thee to be sent to hell Hahahaha. **_The child grinned gleefully and let loose the cero. Fischer watched as the burning red light enveloped him, his hollow form screaming in utter terror and pain. Then with no sound at all, a large wooden gate with the words HELL over the top appeared before him. A sword protruded forward stabbing him through the chest and dragging Fischer deep into the burning abyss. And with that the hollow known as Grand Fischer existed no more to take mothers from little children.

_Goddammit, Zan. I thought you said we were at ten percent, _growled Ichigo watching with disinterest and heavy disappointment as Grand Fischer disappeared into the gates of HELL. Shiro was off in a corner, sulking grumpily because he didn't get to fight. Zangetsu was silent for a second before answering.

**We were. **Zangetsu said. **But it seems as though your ten percent is still too powerful that such a weak hollow as Grand Fischer couldn't handle even a simple cero. **

Ichigo and Shiro as well were really grumpy that the pathetic hollow hadn't even fought back. Hell, that wasn't even a fight. That was an execution, not nearly as satisfactory and incredibly disappointing.

"Ichigo!!!" he heard his mother calling his name in the fog. Masking his disappointment with a smile, he called out to her waving frantically. "I'm over here, mom!"

Pretty soon, he saw her figure in the fog and ran to her. She gave him a hug while still under the umbrella then looked at him with a disapproving glare. "Why'd you run off like that? I know you said you saw something over here, but it's just an empty riverbank."

Ichigo grinned at that and wiped some mud off his face. "You're right, mom."

_**Oi king, you got incoming. Seems like you attracted some attention, hehe.**_

Outwardly, Ichigo made no sign of acknowledgement of this bit of information. Inwardly he tensed. _Who is it?_

_**Your dad and that crazy scientist. Looks like that cero was filled with enough hollow energy to alert them of you. **_

At this, Ichigo swore in a very un-childlike manner. _Shit, I can't meet Urahara here. He'll totally ruin the timeline or worse do experiments on me. _Shiro nodded in agreement then chuckled eerily.

_Why are you chuckling like that?_

_**Well, I just got an idea. **_

_You? An idea? _Ichigo asked disbelievingly. _Does it involve murder cause personally I prefer my dad alive. Urahara too, . . . maybe. _

_**Very funny, king. You know, I get good ideas every now and then. **_

Ichigo decided to indulge his hollow. _Very well, what's this idea?_

Shiro told him and by the end, even Zangetsu was nodding in agreement. **It is a sound plan and one that would prevent their suspicions of us for a good amount of time. **Ichigo scowled before agreeing reluctantly.

In his shinigami form, Isshin arrived there at the riverbank, to where the hollow was or at least had been, with Urahara at his side. Both were panting, their mad rush had been little tiring. "Where do you think it is?" Isshin asked frantically, expanding his senses to feel for the hollow reiatsu. With the amount the hollow had, it shouldn't have been that hard. Yet he could find no sign of it anywhere.

Urahara pulled out one of his devices, which was beeping frantically. "Well, according to this, the hollow should be right here."

_**Hello? I'm up here.**_ A dark and eerie voice said and both ex-shinigami shunpoed quickly into the air using a mid-air stop high above the ground. There standing in a relaxed pose was the strangest looking hollow (1) either of them had ever seen. It looked human but its body was completely white, wearing what looked like a shinigami outfit except its colors were in reverse. Strapped to its back was a large butcher-knife looking zankpakto wrapped in bandages. Its eyes were especially eerie, black with gold irises. It just stood there, its arms folded across its chest, an arrogant and half-crazed smile across its face. Both Isshin and Urahara took out their zankpaktos ready for a fight. The white hollow saw their tense stances and smiled, its reiatsu pressure increasing.

_**As much as I'd want to fight with you, though I highly doubt you two would be much of a fight, King would undeniably kill me if I so much as touched you**_, said the hollow pouting.

"Who's your king?" asked Isshin, still not convinced the hollow wouldn't fight.

The hollow grinned and shook his head. _**Oh no, you will get no such information from me. **_

Suddenly Urahara sprung forward attacking the hollow with Benihime. The hollow watched waiting for the strike as if bored. Then just as the zankpakto was about to descend, it shunpoed away so quickly that Urahara's mouth actually dropped, while it stopped a few yards away. _Powerful. _

This time Isshin sprung forward, his own zankpakto raised yet the hollow merely caught it with ease between two fingers. _**I'm glad I can't fight you. It would be undeniably boring. **_Then with sudden blast of reiatsu pushing both Isshin and Urahara away, it vanished, leaving barely a trace behind.

Urahara stared at the place where the hollow had been then stared at Isshin then stared back. _What the hell was going on?_

_

* * *

_

_**Hahahaha king, you should have seen'em. Both of them were so amazed I bet they're still sitting there wondering what they just encountered. Hahahaha. **_Shiro was cackling, too loudly much to Ichigo's annoyance. He had just barely reached home with his mom and gone straight to his room when Shiro had returned.

_I'm just amazed that you didn't fight them. I mean, you've been complaining this whole time bout wanting a decent fight,_ replied Ichigo shaking his head. He could tell that even Zangetsu was curious about the sudden change in his hollow's attitude. To this the hollow was silent a second before answering.

_**. . . I don't want to talk about it,**_ huffed Shiro in a sulky way. Ichigo was beyond curious now.

_What the hell do you mean by that?_

_**I mean I don't want to talk about it and you can't make me.**_ Then with an angry huff, Shiro disappeared from Ichigo's awareness.

**I'll try to get him to talk about it**, said Zangetsu, before also disappearing, leaving Ichigo feeling a little bewildered.

It wasn't until later in the afternoon that the man of the Kurosaki house returned home with his little girls in tow. Masaki and Ichigo both were getting dinner ready for the family.

"Masaki daarrrrrrlingggggg, we're home!" he shouted along with the twins. Masaki smiled warmly, bringing the girls in a big hug. Ichigo just smiled and rolled his eyes as his dad tried to pick up his mom with the twins and swing them around the room.

"Dad, be careful!" he shouted worryingly.

Isshin just looked at his son, smiling then dropping Masaki and the squealing twins, he came rushing towards his son with open arms. "Come on, Ichigo give your daddykins a big hug!!!!!" Ichigo scowled as the man came running then hit him away with a light kick.

"Come on, dad. I'm too big for stuff like that," he said as his father fell to the ground dramatically crying.

"Oh Ichigo what did your poor father do that you became so cold?!" he cried while Ichigo and Masaki smiled a bit at the silly antics of their father and husband and the twins squealed in childish delight. After that was done with, the Kurosaki family had a peaceful dinner before Masaki rushed away to her book club meeting around 7 o'clock, ordering her husband and son to take care of the house while she was gone.

Right after she left, Isshin looked at his son excitedly. "Alrighty Ichigo, now that your mother's gone, how bout you and I take the twins on a little adventure?"

Ichigo raised his eyebrow in question, a little frown on his face. "Like where exactly?" He was suspicious. Although his father had acted like normal ever since he came home, Ichigo could tell that something had upset him during the day (no question as to what).

"Think of it like a surprise," Isshin said mysteriously while picking up both of his girls. Ichigo's instincts were kind of screaming that this could be bad but he went along with it anyway.

_**Don't do it, king!! He's gonna take us to that crazy guy's place.**_ Shiro had apparently chosen _that_ moment to come out of hiding. Ichigo frowned at the sudden intrusion but didn't question it.

_What do you think, Zan?_

His zankpakto was quiet before answering. **From what I can tell, your father probably has his suspicions about you. So he most likely talked to you-know-who about it and somehow got it into his mind that it was a good idea to have us meet him. **

Shiro was undeniably freaking out after that little explanation.

_**Crap crap crap crap crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell are we gonna do? We can't face Urahara yet. We have no explanations for our reiatsu or the tattoo. And how are ya gonna explain me, eh?**_ Urahara would also be able to distinguish the hollow reiatsu in Ichigo's spirit signature. _**And he'll want to do experiments on us and probably try to extract me and and . . .**_

** Shiro, calm down, **said Zangetsu tersely. The thought of Urahara experimenting on them was surprisingly terrifying to the otherwise stoic zankpakto spirit but someone had to remain calm at least.

Surprisingly, Ichigo who was only mildly worried about this latest development turned to Zangetsu. _Can you do something to suppress all of my reiatsu? _The zankpakto was quiet for a second before nodding.

**Yes, Ichigo. I'll be able to suppress your reiatsu as far down as the power of a 10****th**** seat but no lower I'm afraid. In this time, your reiatsu will be so condensed in your body that you might feel some pain. Also, I can only suppress it for two hours at the most. Shiro, you are going to have to go into complete hiding . . . I know you hate it but you'd hate it even more if Urahara found us. **Shiro nodded before disappearing completely.

_Man, Zan, you gotta teach me how to do that, _said Ichigo impressed at how cowed Shiro seemed. Zangetsu ignored the compliment, turning his full attention to Ichigo.

**Are you ready, Ichigo? **Ichigo grunted his agreement and felt a dull pain spread throughout his body as Zangetsu suppressed his reiatsu with all of his power. On the outside, Isshin hadn't noticed anything immediately different about his son because he had been too preoccupied preparing his little girls for their outing. However, he did glance over to see that his son had kind of a glazed look and a frown upon his face as though he was thinking of something difficult.

"Ichigo?" he called out. He noticed Ichigo shake and wake up a bit before giving a grin. "I'm ready, dad!" the little Ichigo cried with perfect false childish enthusiasm. Isshin nodded, grinning to himself, and picked up the girls before heading out the door.

Ichigo masked his pain and his apprehension as they neared the ex-shinigami's shop. Yet somewhere inside he began to feel a little excitement at pulling this stunt off. That damned shopkeeper had messed with his head numerous times in the past. It was high time Ichigo returned the favor.

They reached the shop fairly quickly, too quickly if Ichigo had anything to say about it. It was the same as he remembered it and in a rush all other memories came back as well. _Of him getting his shinigami powers back, of Urahara trying to attack him, of Urahara's crazy quotes, of Urahara trying to experiment on him (and failing), of Ichigo with his friends planning a counterattack in Karakara town against Aizen, of the final battle in front of the shop where both Urahara and the rest died right before he stabbed Aizen through the chest, ending it once and for all._

Suddenly his heart hurt far more than his strained little body and Ichigo for the first time in a while felt like running away from this place. He tried to fake a smile but failed as they approached the shop's door.

"Itsygo? Are you sad?" asked little Karin who was looking at her older brother intently from her father's arms. Hearing the question, Isshin turned to his son in surprise.

Thinking quickly, Ichigo gave a real smile this time, happy that his little sisters were so caring. "Nah, I'm not sad, Karin, just a little tired. I beat Tatsuki-chan today, you know." That seemed to reassure his family quickly.

The Ichigo looked at his dad with child-like innocence. "But, dad, why are we here?"

Isshin merely smiled, ignoring the question and knocked on the shop's door. "Urahara-sannnnnn!!! Tessai-sannnnn!!! We came to visit!"

The door opened to reveal Tessai in his classic apron and moustache. As soon as the girls saw him, they both giggled shyly while Ichigo smiled warmly up at him. He had missed the old kido master.

"Why, hello, Kurosaki-san and little ones, how nice of you to visit!" said Tessai as he smiled, widening the door to let the Kurosaki clan into the old shop. Isshin and the girls went first while Ichigo lingered a bit behind, taking his time. As he walked passed pillars of boxes, Ichigo glanced around, a small nostalgic smile on his face as he looked at the messy shop. _I can't believe this place isn't any different. Hehe it's been awhile . . . _

**"Booo!!!!!!" **

A white masked, hat-wearing creature jumped in front of Ichigo from behind one of the towering boxes. Ichigo jumped back ten feet as a reaction then jumped forward punching whatever it was hard in the stomach. The thing flew back several feet into some more boxes. Ichigo cursed under his breath, that counterattack had been an accidental and instinctual reaction, something a nine-year-old would'nt have. After living on the sands of Hueco Mundo for so long, his battle instincts had been honed to the point that if he was ambushed, Ichigo would be fighting before he realized what he was doing. Masking his surprise, Ichigo glared at the thing that was now getting up from beneath the rubbles of boxes it had knocked over.

"Man, Isshin, your kid can really punch," Urahara said as he rubbed the back of his head that had hit the wall and his stomach that had taken a brunt of the hit. Isshin and Tessai who had heard the commotion had come to check on what it was, were openly gaping while Ichigo was merely glaring at the now mask-less Urahara-san.

"Dad!! That weird guy attacked me from behind one of the boxes!" Ichigo cried in indignation and pointing like the child he was.

Isshin grinned with pride and walked over to his son, tousling his hair a bit. "Yep, but you wouldn't let him, son would you?"

Ichigo grinned a bit evilly at that. "Nope!"

Urahara smiled sheepishly and grabbed his cane before presenting himself to the little Kurosaki boy and holding out his hand. "I don't think we got off to a good start, Ichigo. My name is Urahara Kisuke. I'm an old friend of your dad's."

Ichigo glared a little at the scientist that was trying so hard to look innocent before he smiled brightly and grabbed his hand roughly. "Nice to meet ya, weird guy." Urahara twitched a little at the 'weird guy' but otherwise ignored it.

Then Urahara kneeled to Ichigo's level, looking him in straight in the eye. Ichigo felt a little uncomfortable, Urahara never looked at him in the eye in the past. He was always a little shifty, hiding some greater plan. From his side, Urahara suprised himself as he looked into the young Ichigo's eyes. The boy was hiding something, that much he could tell. His eyes, although bright amber were dark and haunted as though he felt some great pain, something a young child with a loving family should never feel. He looked older than his years, and smarter than he revealed. But what was probably the most astonishing thing Urahara noticed was that Ichigo's eyes were steeled with determination and sparkled with untold knowledge. What was this child?

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Um Urahara-san, can you stop staring at me? It's a little weird." Urahara tore his gaze away before quickly peeling back both of Ichigo's sleeves looking for the tattoo Isshin mentions. Ichigo growled in indignation, struggling a bit.

Then Urahara blinked before standing up. "Sorry, Ichigo, maybe you should go play with Tessai-san and your little sisters while I talk with your father?"

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders, hearing the serious tone in Urahara's voice then went over to his little sisters and Tessai-san.

Isshin turned to Urahara, noticing also the seriousness in his manner. "So? What did you feel?"

Urahara looked at him, smiling a bit. "You know, old friend, I do detect some reiatsu, but not nearly as much as you suggested. It's barely a tenth seat power, which isn't surprising, considering who his father is. Also I didn't see any tattoo on his shoulder," Urahara said pointedly.

Isshin frowned, before smiling a little relieved. "Hmm, maybe I'm just out of it and misread his reiatsu. Must be my gigai or something, eh?"

Urahara nodded a bit before continuing. "However, there is something about Ichigo that I've never seen in a human child. I think you should watch him carefully, Isshin." Isshin nodded as he watched Ichigo play with the girls and Tessai.

The Kurosaki family stayed for about an hour or so, until the little girls fell asleep and Isshin realized belatedly it was time to get back. As they left, Ichigo waved warmly at Tessai-san and gave a death-glare to Urahara while Isshin merely smiled, thanking them for their hospitality. They walked back home with Isshin carrying both girls on his back and Ichigo following slowly, yawning and feeling incredibly tired all of a sudden but incredibly victorious as well. He had after all fooled Urahara who probably won't even remember his name.

"How'd you like Tessai and Urahara-san, Ichigo?" asked Isshin from up ahead. Ichigo was a bit startled at the question but smiled softly.

"I liked them a lot," which was not a lie. He was in fact very fond of the two quirky shopkeepers.

"Good, they are old friends of mine. You might see them around an awful lot," hinted Isshin, grinning like a fool. Ichigo almost stopped in his tracks at that. No way in hell was he hiding his reiatsu every time that wacko came about. Growling to himself at the unfairness of it all, Ichigo retreated to his room after they returned back to the house.

**Finally,** sighed Zangetsu as he slowly let out all of Ichigo's bottled up reiatsu. Fascinated, Ichigo watched as red tattoo appeared again on his shoulder.

**_LET ME OUT!!!!!!!! _growled Shiro as he finally was freed from wherever dark crevice he had been in. Ichigo's ears felt assaulted by the sudden intrusion. **

**_God, Shiro could you be any louder?! _**

_**Yes, king I can. LLETTTTTTTTT MEEEEEEEE OUTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!! **_

Ichigo winced again at the noise before replying. _No, Shiro, I think it's best we lay low tonight. Tomorrow you can roam a bit. _Shiro grumbled at that, complaining loudly that it was unfair whilst Zangetsu nodded in agreement. _Now, can you guys be a bit quiet? I really need to sleep. _Both of his inner tennants quieted down as Ichigo put on his pajamas and crawled into his bed, exhausted from his day. To think, that yesterday he had been wandering the sands of Hueco Mundo, alone and indifferent, then today, he regained everything he had ever lost in the blink of an eye. As he stared outside his window, he sighed, feeling that this new unexpected life would be far greater than anything he could ever dreamed and for the first time he eagerly anticipated the days to come.

* * *

A/N: Woohooo and that is the end of chapter three. For those that are reading this, just a little heads up. There will be a time skip. I really don't have the patiance to go day by day. So I apologize if this is an inconvenience. to anyone. Also there is a nice little surprise in the next chapter, so be prepared and read on.

(1) Guess who it is? Come on, you know who it is.


	4. The blade

Disclaimer: how many times do I have to write this damn thing? anyway, I don't own Bleach and never will. (sob)

**_Bold/Italic: Shiro_**

**Bold: Zangetsu**

_Italic: Thoughts_

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

_And with that, the blade of destiny swung down . . . _

* * *

_He watched as Aizen looked down on his helpless friends and family, all defeated and broken, lying in heaps upon the Karakura battlefield, too weak to move let alone defend themselves. He himself was bleeding from his mouth, several gashes on his side, his mask crumbling on his face, a particularly nasty wound in his back where Aizen had stabbed him from behind as he killed Gin. Aizen smirked at him from beneath his gruesome hollow mask, then held up his hand. Even without his mask, he knew what was happening yet in that one moment when Aizen fired his powerful bala at his friends and the last remnants of the fighting Soul Society, he couldn't do anything but watch as they were blown away, and left dead or dying. The despair, the helplessness, the anger, everything he felt at that one moment combined into a vortex of reiatsu that engulfed everything. Aizen himself was almost blown away and the next thing Ichigo knew Aizen was dead with Zangetsu straight through his heart. Yet there was no victory cry, no feeling of relief, only despair and loss seemed to ache across the battlefield._

Ichigo awoke from his memories, lying on a green riverbank. The afternoon sun was shining over a great blue sky and ever so softly clouds passed overhead. Slowly he sat up, sighing and stretching his neck. Looking at the lapping of the water, Ichigo waited for his heart to calm down again. That damn nightmare had refused to let him go, constantly disturbing his sleep. To forget his past, Ichigo tried to remember the present.

He was fifteen now, in human years and already everything was going great. He had all of his old friends. He still met Tatsuki at the dojo every now and again after school; they would spar often, only for fun of course. He had never sparred against her for real but no reason for her to know that. She would be the National Woman Champ this year, he was sure, and already her reiatsu had risen higher than normal.

Then there was Chad, they had met in the same way as the last time-line and Ichigo was so happy to see him that he actually had to restrain himself from giving the quiet giant a hug every time they hung out. The big guy had actually already gained a lot of reiatsu and could see hollows and spirits. Every now and then he would come to Ichigo with a question about the spirits and what not and Ichigo would answer in the best way he could without revealing anything.

Orihime, sweet, gentle Orihime who had suffered the most during the war was there as well. Somedays he thought it would be better if she didn't have reiatsu at all and lived as a normal girl, but he knew secretly that they needed her. She healed them in ways she would probably never understand and she saved countless lives using her precious Shun Shun Rika powers. If she had to decide, she would have chosen without a second thought. Then there was Keigo and Mizuiro who was also starting to sense reiatsu, not that he could deter them at all. And of course the antisocial Ishida was always brooding in the back of the classroom, watching them.

But Ichigo could never escape his past memories of who they used to be and who they had become. He hated that no matter what he could never talk to Chad or Tatsuki like he used to, that he had to lie to and deceive the very people closest to him in order to make sure they didn't notice anything wrong. He was never smart like Ishida, who would know exactly how to plan for everything, or patient like Chad, who would merely wait for such events to come to him, or attentive like Orihime, always wary of every little detail concerning her friends. He wanted at least someone's help, to talk it out, make sure he wasn't crazy with his plan that he wasn't rushing into things. Yet he never would be able to. It was all very complicated and very tiring. With them, he was forced to put on a mask, a simple yet painful one, and although he was always happy that his close ones were alive and safe (a fact that kept him sane most of the time), he was forced to hide who he really was . . . that seriously powerful war veteran . . . and instead become a scowling sometimes grumpy sarcastic teenager that was merely living his human life, day by day. It wasn't so bad most of the time, he merely had to make sure he kept the mask on and never let it slip too often. It wore on his soul and his heart until some days he thought he would burst into flame for all the emotions and secrets he was keeping in.

But no matter how hard it got, or how tiring it was, he would see his friends' smiling faces as they hung out or his family's happiness as they had dinner together and in those precious yet fragile moments Ichigo's determination would steel itself and become as sharp and pure as Zangetsu's blade. He would protect this happiness, this life with every ounce of his not-too-inconsiderable strength. He bet his soul, after all.

"Oniichan, Oniichannnn!"

A call awoke Ichigo from his musings and he turned to smile at the most important person of all that he wanted to protect.

It had come to a great surprise to all when, nine months after Ichigo came back to the past and saved his mother, the fourth member of the Kurosaki siblings was born.

Kurosaki Arashi, six years old now, was by far the greatest gift Ichigo had ever received. He could still remember his shock and excitement when his mother announced her unexpected pregnancy. A little brother was almost too good to be true. Arashi had the soft fluffy brown hair like his mother and that goofy smile from his father. He was small for his age and a lot of times Ichigo feared he would break as easily as a delicate piece of glass. To say he was overprotective of his little brother was a bit of an understatement. But Arashi never noticed. To him, Ichigo was the perfect older brother. He found time, away from his friends at school and his schoolwork (which he flew through like he had done it before - hint) to pick up Arashi every day after school from the kindergarten and they would play for hours afterward. Now Arashi's smiling face was one more reason for Ichigo to make sure that everything went according to plan.

Ichigo stood up and looked down at his little brother's smiling face, tousling his hair a bit. "And how was school today, Arashi?"

The little boy's grin widened. "It was sooooo cooooollll! You should have seen it, oni-chan, we all got to paint with our fingers and I even got some paint on Sensei's pants when he wasn't looking. Hehe!"

Ichigo chuckled softly at the prank before bending down to pick up his little brother and put him on his shoulder. "I bet he was pretty mad about that."

Arashi shook his head, a mischievous smile on his face. "Nope!"

HOOOOWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Ichigo tensed slightly as he heard a hollow yell from not too far away. He noticed however that Arashi seemed blissfully unaware of the monster. Thank God. Ichigo had been very careful never to expose young Arashi to any reiatsu. He wanted his little brother to grow up normally, with a life full of human joys and troubles. A life he would never have. His sisters however, developed reiatsu far too quickly, despite how hard he worked to keep his own down. Karin could already see spirits, and Yuzu could feel their emotions. Ah well, he would just have to protect them as much as possible. There were some things he just could not control.

"Hey Arashi, hold on to my back really tight, okay?"

Arashi nodded, grinning. He knew what was going to happen next and Ichigo was off.

"Yipee! Faster, Ichi-nii!" shouted Arashi as Ichigo raced home, his little brother on his back. Although he couldn't shunpo or sonindo in human form, his body was far too strong and fast for a normal teenager. Gangs ran away from him now instead of seeking him out for his orange hair.

The brother duo reached their house in record time and Ichigo let Arashi off at the front door. "Go inside and tell mom I'll be right there." Arashi nodded before running in. Ichigo sighed, turning to look at the three hollows that had followed him home. Every now and again hollows would be attracted to his unusual spirit signature. To tell the truth, he didn't mind it. For seven years, he had been forced to fighting these pathetic hollows and local gangs as means of training. Hell, Shiro put up a way better fight than this.

"Are you hollows hungry, eh?" Ichigo smirked as the hollows approached, two big ones that reminded him of spiky snakes and another small quick one that looked an awful lot like a spider. They stood before him shaking with hunger. Ichigo cracked his knuckles as all three approached. Ichigo waited for them to attack first.

_**King! Let me out! Please? I'm so bored!**_ Shiro was complaining for the eightieth time today. Ichigo rolled his eyes as he avoided the first attack from one of the serpent-look-alikes. Jumping high up, Ichigo crushed the hollow's mask with a single punch and moved to the next two.

_Why on earth would you want to fight these guys, eh? They are so weak._

_**That doesn't matter. I'm so bored in here I've been playing hide-and-seek with the old man and he keeps winning. **_

_. . . Is that true, Zan?_ Ichigo asked, disbelievingly. Sure, they didn't have any _real _fights to speak of. But every week or so Ichigo would have a fight with his inner hollow and training with Zangetsu to keep his abilities honed. Surely that was entertaining enough to keep them occupied . . .

**… yes, but that's only because I am bored as well. **

_Wow. _

Speechless, Ichigo almost ignored the spider hollow that was creeping up behind him as he thought of Zangetsu and his hollow playing hide-and-seek in the metropolis that was his inner world. Somehow the image just didn't seem to fit and he kept on biting his lip to keep from laughing at the thought.

The speedy spider hollow jumped to swipe at the distracted Ichigo with one of its sharp claws just as the other large one thrust forward, its fanged mouth wide open ready to strike. Acting on instinct, Ichigo dodged the spider one first, grabbing its mask in his hand and tossing it into the other one, hard enough that both of them were blown away. They staggered up from the beating, glaring at Ichigo with their hollow eyes, but they were too slow. Already Ichigo had run towards them his hands grasping their masks and crushing them with his bare fists. He didn't even stay to watch as both dissolved into oblivion.

Ichigo turned his attention toward his inner tenants as he walked towards his home. _I'm sorry, both of you, if I have been neglecting you anyway. But I will need both of you to help me make this timeline right. So please put up with it for a little longer. _

**Of course, Ichigo.**

_**. . .**__**Only if I get to fight a bit too. It's not fair that you get to have all the fun. **_Ichigo had expected as much from his whining hollow. Geez, how selfish could you get?

_How bout when we get to Hueco Mundo, eh? I can let you go at least a little wild there. _

_**Sweettttt! Hell yeah! I'm gonna kick some Vasto Lord's ass!**_ Ichigo rolled his eyes. It was like bribing a child.

"Ichigo? Get inside, dinner's ready!" Masaki shouted from inside. The scowling Ichigo allowed himself a small smile as he walked into his house, the laughter of his family already ringing in his ears.

* * *

Isshin watched as his elder son walked in from the street. Thinking he had the upper hand for sure this time, he pounced only to be met by his son's right foot. "What the hell, dad?" said Ichigo as Isshin fell to the floor crying, a large footprint impression on his face.

"Oh Ichigo you've improved sooooo much, Daddy has nothing left to teach you," he lamented as the rest of the family giggled while sitting at the dinner table. Isshin watched as even Ichigo allowed himself a rare smile.

As they all sat down for dinner, Isshin observed his eldest son. In some ways, Ichigo acted his age. He got irritated easily, except when it came to his family and was known for getting into fights with delinquents and bullies. Not that Isshin minded that part; even from an early age, Ichigo never seemed to lose in fights and had an extremely strong sense of justice. Hell, one time when he was 11, he got into a fight with a couple of thugs at least three years older than him. Yet when he came home, Ichigo had not a scratch on him. The teachers that taught him tried to complain that Ichigo was a no-good delinquent who shouldn't go to school but they had no basis considering Icigo was usually one of their highest testing students, a fact that never ceased to amaze Isshin. Not only was his son smart, he had his friends too. Good, loyal friends who would stick by him and oftentimes Isshin saw them all down by the riverbank, chatting away about something that had happened at school. Yep, on the surface Ichigo acted like any teenage boy. It was when he looked deeper that Isshin began to worry.

He didn't notice it at first; normal people definitely wouldn't. Every now and again Ichigo's eyes would glaze off, and for a second, his eldest son would have this horribly morose expression upon his face as if remembering something incredibly sad. Sometimes it was a word or phrase that caused Ichigo to lose focus and Isshin would catch a glimpse of what he thought was the real Ichigo. It would only last a second before Ichigo would catch his mask slipping and scowl in his usual manner. It worried Isshin that his son never revealed his true emotions, that all they saw of Ichigo was only on the surface. Also those nightmares when Ichigo was nine, never stopped. Even now and again, some nights when he went in to check on Ichigo, Isshin would find his son actually crying, saying something like _I couldn't save them, I couldn't save them, I'm so sorry, everyone_ over and over again and when he awoke quite suddenly Ichigo would have this painful expression of guilt across his face before his eyes would steel with a determination Isshin had never seen before on anyone. In that moment Isshin felt a horrible premonition creep along his spine.

It wasn't just those nightmares though; it was the other little things that only Isshin, as an ex-shinigami, would notice. For example, whenever a hollow howled into the night or during the day, his son would twitch as if bothered by something then look into the direction of the hollow before shrugging his shoulders and ignoring it, as if it didn't concern him. One time he even overheard Ichigo explaining to Chad what a hollow was. That at least confirmed some of his suspicions but only lead of more questions. If his son knew what a hollow was and could see them, why wasn't he afraid of them? Where did he even learn what a hollow was? At first guess, Isshin would have bet money that Urahara had something to do with it. But according to the mad scientist, he hadn't seen nor heard from Ichigo since they had gone to visit 7 years ago. If that was the case, then what had happened since then? Also when he was younger, especially around his younger siblings, Ichigo would display this very mature protective adult side of himself as if he had been through it all and knew just how to handle it. He never cried, never complained and acted in such a serious manner that sometimes Isshin forgot he was just a child. But a child he was and Isshin was determined to find out why his eldest acted this way.

"Dad, um are you okay?"

Isshin's thoughts were interrupted as a serious Ichigo looked at him from across the table. Isshin goofily smiled at him. "Why, of course, son, I was just wondering when you were gonna bring a girl home, tis all . . . Ouch!" He winced as a beet-red Ichigo kick him hard from underneath the table while the other three Kurosaki youngsters giggled again.

Masaki gave a disapproving glare at her husband. "Why, do you tease him so, Isshin? You know he is sensitive about those kinds of things."

Isshin smiled again a bit sheepishly. Quietly he noticed Ichigo was watching him with another small all-knowing smile on his face. Then with a sigh, Ichigo got up from the table, excusing himself and claiming he still had homework he needed to be doing. With a sad gaze, Isshin watched his enigma of an eldest son walk upstairs to his room, again pondering what was going through his mind.

* * *

With a groan, Ichigo collapsed on his bed.

**_Looks like your dad's onto you, King. _**

Ichigo rolled his eyes at that comment, as he rolled to lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. _Thanks, Shiro. I wasn't aware of that at all. _

_**I was just making a conversation, there was no reason to be snippy. **_

_I wasn't being snippy. I'm just saying that your comment was unnecessary and . . . _Ichigo paused as he watched a black butterfly floated into his room. Then with not so much as a whisper, his favorite shortie of a shinigami and best friend from Soul Society was there in the room.

_Rukia._

_Her broken form lay across her brother's. She had tried to protect her nii-sama even in her wounded state but ended up killing them both. The Arrancar that had destroyed them laughed maniacally, looking at them with a sneer. Renji, already heartsick at the loss of his rival and beloved, charged at the Arrancar but it wasn't until Ichigo and the rest arrived to help that the Kuchiki duo were able to be avenged. _

For the past seven years, he had been practicing what he was going to say and what he was going to do, yet all in the course of a second, he had forgotten most of it. He watched her, the reason he became a shinigami, waiting for her to say something. It was after all the start of everything. And he needed to make sure everything went as planned.

"It's near."

He blinked for a second, not understanding. Ah she was talking about the hollow. It had been almost twelve years since he had heard her voice. And like most times, her voice brought him back to reality. He stood up slowly smirking and kicked her from behind. "It is near, my ass!" She looked around, glaring at him.

"Wha . . You can see me?" she asked, her eyes wide. "And you kicked me . . ."

He frowned at that. "Of course, I can see you . . ." He quickly dodged an attack to the side from his father who had barged into the room.

"Quit making a ruckus on the 2nd floor," Isshin shouted.

Ichigo growled back. "How can I not make a ruckus with you as a father?"

"Both of you stop making a ruckus or I'm coming up there and believe me, you don't want me to!" The two men sweat-dropped as they heard this coming from the true queen of the Kurosaki family.

"Yes Mom." "Yes, dear," they both replied, officially cowed.

Rukia smirked as she heard this. "Wow, look who's a little momma's boy."

Ichigo glared at her. "Quiet, you little twerp."

Isshin looked at Ichigo then at Rukia then at Ichigo again. "Who are you talking to, son?"

Ichigo inwardly sighed. His father's little act as a normal human was getting incredible old, but he might as well play along with it. He pointed to Rukia. "You don't see anything there?" Isshin shook his head and Ichigo sighed. "Ah, okay then dad, sorry I was making a ruckus now get out of my room!" He forcibly kicked his father out and closed the door before turning to the petite shinigami.

"So are you a ghost or something?" he asked simply.

Rukia shook her head before glaring at him. "I am a shinigami."

"A death god, eh?" he asked as he sat down comfortably into a chair, smiling at her. Rukia thought he looked like he was merely amused. "Are you here to kill me?"

"Aren't you afraid of me?" she asked inquisitively.

He shook his head smirking. "Oh no, until now I've only seen ghosts and hollows. You could be a figment of my imagination for all I know though why I would come up with such an unattractive shortie like you is beyond me . . "

"First Binding: Sai!" she angrily called out and Ichigo found himself unsurprisingly on the ground with his arms bound behind himself. He glared at her again. "What the hell?" She smirked at him. "Call me shortie, will ya? Hmph!" Then she brought out her sketchbook and Ichigo winced as she went on to explain the pluses and hollows and what she herself was doing there. He had missed her drawings, they were kind of cute, in a weird way.

"Did anyone tell you that your drawings suck by the way?" he commented, smirking, receiving the sketchbook in his face afterwards.

HOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLLL!

Ichigo heard the hollow downstairs, his reiatsu rising slightly on instinct. As calmly as he could, he turned to Rukia. "Did you hear that?" It amazed him that she couldn't. it was an incredibly low-level hollow unable to hide its reiatsu in any way.

Rukia frowned at the human before her. Maybe he really was losing his mind. "Hear what?"

**HOOOOOOOWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL!**

It was louder this time and Rukia definitely heard it. Quickly she ran to Ichigo's bedroom door and opened it, almost pushed back by the hollow's reiatsu. _How on earth was I unable to feel it before now? It's so large. _Then realizing something she turned to glare at Ichigo. _How was he able to hear it before me?_

"Shinigami let me go!" Ichigo shouted, pretending to struggle beneath the Sai spell. His hollow was cackling at his pathetic acting skills, but they were working and fooling Rukia effectively so it didn't matter.

"Ichigo . . ." Both Ichigo and Rukia turned to find Karin at the doorway, with haunted eyes and a bleeding head wound. Ichigo's heart grew very still and he forced himself to ignore the sudden bad memories assaulting his brain. "Ichigo . . . something . . . something attacked us . . . got mom, dad, Arashi, Yuzu . . . run!" Then effectively she passed out.

Ichigo could no longer pretend his ignorance or his calm. Every fiber in his being called out to him to rush downstairs and protect his family . . . so he did. Ignoring the suspicions that would be raised, Ichigo gathered a small amount of reiatsu and broke the kido spell easily, rushing past a wide-eyed Rukia after grabbing a bat. Downstairs, he found both of his parents as well as Yuzu lying on the floor, the house trashed by the large monster. His heart stopped at the sight of them but luckily after a quick check, he found all of them safe, only unconscious. _Thank God . . . Where's Arashi?_

Then he saw it in the middle of the street, the fishface holding his little brother in the palm of his hand. Arashi looked at Ichigo , his eyes wide and full of tears. "Ichi-nii?" Anger took hold of Ichigo, and his body moved out of instinct. The hollow didn't know what hit it, but it was hard enough to send its large body flying across the street, dropping its precious meal. Gently Ichigo caught Arashi before he hit the ground, finding his little brother unconscious and placed him down on the ground away from any battle. Then his eyes glowing red, Ichigo turned to face the incoming hollow, his bat raised and ready. "Come on, scum!"

However, just as the hollow was to attack Ichigo, Rukia stepped into the line of fire to take the blow. Ichigo growled, catching her frail body as she dropped, her sword scarring the hollow. "Shingami! What the hell do you think you are doing?" he cried, a mask of surprise and worry upon his face.

She looked at him with exasperation. "I couldn't just sit around and watch you sacrifice yourself for your family," she winced at the wounds on her shoulder and back. Ichigo sighed, muttering something under his breath. Rukia could have sworn she heard, _You never change, do you?_ but she wasn't sure.

"Well then what should I do, eh? How can I protect my family and friends?" Ichigo asked tiredly.

She glanced at him, smirking and gasping at her wounds, she leaned against a wall shakily. "I will give you some of my power, but first you must stab yourself with this." Slowly she took out her sword, raising it to his chest. Surprisingly instead of fear or hesitation, she watched as the orange-haired teenager seemed to smirk and his eyes glowed with determination as he gripped her handle.

"Thanks, shinigami," he said.

She smirked at him again. "It's not 'shinigami'. Its Rukia. Kuchiki Rukia."

Ichigo gave a wry grin. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo." And with that the sword stabbed, a blast of power echoing across the street.

(A/N: I thought of ending it there but then remembered in my almighty mercy to grant you an even longer chapter than before . . . don't hate me for it.)

* * *

Urahara Kisuke was a smart man, some could say. A little eccentric maybe, but his weird quirks often led him to new discoveries and inventions.

It was his most recent discovery that he found truly captivating, an enigma definitely worth investigating.

He had heard the howl attack his old drinking buddy's home even from his shop, miles away. Although he was only mildly worried over the attack, considering that Isshin was an ex-shinigami and couldn't possibly die from such a low-level hollow even while he was in gigai, he still wanted to make sure of the Kurosaki family's safety. Also he was acutely aware of the shinigami Kuchiki Rukia's presence and was keeping tabs of her whereabouts for further development. So he knew even as he strolled to the Kurosaki residence that there could be no lasting harm done. What he was not prepared for was the eldest Kurosaki boy's reaction.

He had arrived at the scene just as the orange-haired teenager had attacked the hollow with a bat with a speed and strength he had not been aware of in a human being. As he watched, Ichigo caught little Arashi in his arms, so gently and with such a morose expression that for a second, Urahara had feared the worst. Luckily he quickly noticed from his place in the shadows that Arashi was still breathing, merely unconscious. Silently Ichigo laid Arashi down on the ground, away from any battle then stood to face the recovering hollow, bat in hand.

The scientist, always perceptive to detail, noticed that the unusually confident air settling around the eldest Kurosaki sibling was something only battle veterans and experienced shinigami usually had. Not only that, but Ichigo's reiatsu was slowly rising, subconsciously as though in response to the heated atmosphere. Was this boy truly a prodigy born and bred to defeat hollows? Was Isshin right in assuming that his eldest son was more than the child of an ex-shinigami? Paying closer attention to Ichigo, Urahara noticed Ichigo's stance, his body tense as the hollow charge, then he relaxed as he saw Rukia take the blow from him, as though he had expected such an event. Peculiar would be an understatement.

Then there was the scene between Rukia and Ichigo. Even Urahara - an experienced and knowledgeable man - found the idea of being stabbed by a zanpakuto to release your own powers daunting to say the least. But this Ichigo had not hesitated in the slightest, placing her zanpakuto directly over his throat with a simple movement.

The sword had stabbed. The ensuing blast deafened and blinded the scientist effectively.

The dust settled slowly, causing the scientist to peer into the cloud. He couldn't see or feel anything from the shadows in the alley. It was as if his shinigami senses had been overwhelmed by a greater force. Then there was a vibration in the air, one that he felt spread along his body, before his sound and sight returned with gusto. _Well, that was weird. _But the thought was fleeting as he found that the hollow was still alive, standing near the center of the dust cloud. Quickly he also located the Kuchiki girl leaning against the wall. _Hmmm . . . now where's the young Kurosaki?_

_

* * *

_

The hollow was thinking along the same lines. Well . . . not thinking exactly. Hollows after all are mostly made of instincts. Somewhere in that miniscule animalistic mind, it felt that its prey was near. So with its empty eyes and other senses it searched, never realizing that the prey had never been and never would be. It was a predator.

Ichigo entered his shinigami form easily, taking only a small amount of Rukia's power to officially activate his own. For a brief (and foolish . . . at least by Zangetsu's standards) second, he let his true reiatsu leak out, relaxing his mind fully before reapplying the tattoo and sealing his body into his original shinigami form.

_Are you sure this tattoo will continue to work, old man?_ he asked, eyeing the still glowing red lines on his right shoulder. His body felt heavy and restricted; his own reiatsu was stifling and thick.

**Yes. Although it is rather unfortunate that you must seal your powers, it is necessary for our plan to succeed. After all, we must not tip our hand too early to Aizen, if he has been watching us for as long as he claims. **Ichigo nodded in agreement**. **

Although he didn't like the feeling, Ichigo agreed with the wise old sword. With his reiatsu bound to ten percent still, Aizen would not change his plans and they would be able to predict his actions effectively. Yet despite the sealing, Ichigo felt the familiar rustle of his black hankama against his skin and the warm, firm handle of Zangetsu in his hand. It had been a long time since he had felt it. A small smirk made a way across his face. _It felt good._

Waiting for the dust to settle, Ichigo stood confidently in front of the hollow, noticing with disdain that it hadn't sensed him yet. _Good God, this thing is so weak. _Truth be told, he could if he wanted to, kill it quickly and silently. The war had honed his fighting stealth and strategic mind to the point that he winced when he thought of the brash manner in which he had fought when he was younger.

**_Why don't you just put it out of its misery, eh king?_**

Ichigo chuckled slightly in agreement with his hollow. _Can't be too flashy though, Shiro. You felt him too, right?_

**_Hn._ **Shiro grunted in agreement. Ichigo could see his hollow half, scowling away in the darkness. **_That damn scientist ruins all of our fun_. **

The low-level hollow finally had sensed him, looking down and growling intimidatingly. Ichigo merely glared, hefting Zangetsu upon his shoulders. "Hey Fishface!" he shouted. At least in front of Urahara he could act like the idiot. The hollow growled again, then charged. Ichigo rolled his eyes, dodging the clumsy attacks, using normal speed, and slashed the hollow's mask with a single swipe. Smirking victoriously as the hollow dissipated to nothingness, Ichigo then turned his amber eyes to Rukia, only to find her staring at him with wide eyes. He frowned at her reaction. In his memory, everything had gone the same as before so what was she so shocked about?

Suddenly there was a sharp blow to the back of his head and just as his vision faded away, he saw a blur with green and white stripes upon blonde hair. _Damn Kisuke!_

_

* * *

_

Ichigo awoke in his human body, laying in his bed as though nothing had happened. The bump at the back of his head and the severe migraine that seemed to pound his temple begged to differ. Wincing slightly, he put his hand to his head and cursed the eccentric shopkeeper.

_I swear, that scientist has about as much tact as Kenpachi. Geez . . . what's that cane made of? Steel? _

**I'm afraid, Ichigo, that this headache was not entirely caused by Urahara_._ **The zanpakuto's voice seemed oddly ominous and Ichigo's body tensed as if expecting danger.

_What do you mean, old man?_

**The seal upon your body, was meant to tone down your reiatsu to about ten percent, correct? **Ichigo nodded in agreement.** Well, your human body has still not fully adapted to the potency and strain of your reiatsu. Also I underestimated its power. Combined with the extra reiatsu gained from finally achieving your shinigami form, I fear that unless you expel all of that trapped reiatsu soon, your human body will suffer.**

Ichigo nodded, understanding what he meant. _So basically, I need to find an outlet to channel all of this excess reiatsu. Hmmmm but where can I go without being detected? _His thoughts immediately jumped to the Vizard family. Hachi's shield would undoubtedly and effectively hide even Ichigo's reiatsu but to meet the vizards so early in the time line would unquestionably screw it up. So the big question? Change and adapt his plans to the best of his ability to cope with this new obstacle or suffer the consequential strain upon his human body, most likely suffering a shorter life span and the inability to fight in the War against Aizen? _Decisions, decisions_.

In truth, Ichigo was a master of worst-case scenarios, facing whatever obstacle that came his way head on without a hint of indecision. However, age and experience had calmed his thoughts enough that he could weigh the consequences of his actions rather effectively. Still with no one but the other halves of his souls to talk to, he found himself growing frustrated with the pent-up emotions that gathered like a storm in his mind. Growling in anger, he called to the advising sword.

_Zan, I'll have to decide it later, okay? _

**As you wish, Ichigo. Just do not put it off for too long or permanent damage will start to appear. **The zanpakuto's voice sounded worried. Ichigo grunted in agreement, then sat up in his room, wincing at the pounding headache. If these were merely side-effects, he'd hate to see what the permanent damage looked like.

"Like I could forget," he mumbled underneath his breath as he got ready for school. Grabbing his bag and slinging it across his back, he fixed his mask and calmly headed downstairs, where already he could hear their excited voices as they discussed the 'truck' that smashed through their whole house. He smiled slightly. Some things never change.

At the breakfast table, he listened quietly as his family recounted the story of the 'truck' and silently thanked whatever deity it was that at least his family was okay. As he ate the last remaining bites of his mother's delicious homemade breakfast (something he never took for granted), Ichigo pondered over his next move and felt a small smirk grace his features.

School at least would be entertaining for once.

* * *

A/N: To all who read this, I apologize for such a delay. As you are probably familiar with finals, essays, ect. I simply have not had the time to post this latest chapter. Luckily I made it rather long and can't wait to continue this story so expect more chapters soon. Also, please review and perhaps some ideas on where you think this story should go. Have fun!


	5. The gears

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and give all credit where credit is due (maybe).

_

* * *

Italics= Thoughts/memories_

**_Bold/Italic = Shiro_**

**Bold = Zangetsu**

**

* * *

**Chapter 5

_The gears . . ._

* * *

_"If they say destiny is made of gears, then we are the reason for turning it._

_Believing doesn't connect . . . we go forth, beyond the power of the matching gears."_

_

* * *

_

"Class . . . I'd like to present a new transfer student. This is Kuchiki Rukia."

Rukia smiled gleefully at the young class of humans (some of whom were over 100 something years younger) before her and quickly noted that not one in her class had the orange hair she was looking for, though she did find several unusually high reiatsu signatures located together. _How very strange and where is . . .? _She thought back to the events of last night as well as her unorthodox meeting with Urahara.

_XXXXX_

_Whack!_

_Rukia watched, wide-eyed as Ichigo crumpled to the ground, revealing a sandal-wearing exiled shinigami captain behind him with his cane raised. _

_"Kisuke Urahara," she stated, still amazed at the events that had unfolded. What was the exile doing here of all places? _

_"Ah yes, it is good to finally meet you, Kuchiki Rukia. How is Soul Society, hm?" the scientist smiled warmly. _

_Shaking, she stood up, amazed that she had any shinigami power left. Her zanpakuto was alright, but her reiatsu felt weak, drained. That human boy had pulled more of her power than she thought. Then again, Rukia had assumed that all of her powers would be gone, not just a fraction. It would take a while, but her powers would return. The boy however . . . She turned to look at Ichigo who now sported his own shinigami form, a fact she was quickly regretting and pondering over. How is it he had his own shinigami powers?_

_"Strange . . . isn't it?" Urahara stated as he too stared at the unconscious orange top, a interested glint in his eye. Rukia looked quickly at the scientist, fearing for a second that he was threatening the teen. She had heard about the strange experiments of the previous captain of 12th division and didn't feel like taking any chances. _

_"What is?" she asked warily. _

_"His sword, little Rukia-chan, . . . is incredibly big for a sealed zanpakuto, is it not? Almost as if it were in shikai." _

_Shocked, she turned to look at Ichigo's sword that laid next to him. It was by far the largest sword she had ever seen, almost his full body length, and held no guard upon the hilt. The edge was white and black. Also there appeared to be some white cloth flowing from the hilt, adding to the mystery._

_"That . . . that's impossible," she stuttered._

_Urahara merely smiled from underneath his striped hat, pulling it down to hide his expression. "I have often found that in our line of work, 'impossible' is too limiting a word. Let's go with improbable, okay? And you are right . . . it is highly improbable. However, it seems that it has indeed happened," Urahara sighed at how troublesome the situation had become then grinned at Rukia, a knowing glint in his eyes. "What will you do now, little Rukia-chan?"_

_"What . . . What do you mean?" she asked, not understanding. _

_"You know, it is illegal for a shinigami to pass on her powers to another. And you not only passed some of yours on but also helped awaken some of his own," Urahara gestured to the unconscious teenager. "Soul Society will not look kindly upon this boy. You . . . will mostly likely get a slap on the wrist, something trivial. This boy however might be considered a threat . . . an unknown variable in Soul Society's calculations. Who knows how they will react to his existence?"_

_ Rukia paled as his words sunk in. Her fault . . . it was her fault. Her determined violet eyes snapped up to look at the shifty exile. "What do I need to do?"_

_He grinned unpleasantly. "Well, first . . ." She did not like the sudden shudder that went up her spine. _

_XXXXX_

Rukia was pulled out of her memories with a shout from the teacher.

"Kurosaki Ichigo!" the teacher called, glancing at his empty seat. With a frown, she turned her gaze to Chad, Orihime, and Tatsuki, all of whom met her eyes head on as if daring her to ask them. Just as she was about to ask of his whereabouts, said tardy student strolled into the classroom. His clothes were slightly askew and his head was bleeding from what seemed to be a hard punch but somehow he managed a small scowl toward the teacher. "Yo, teach, who's the new girl?"

Rukia met his eyes and noticed that he didn't seem the least bit surprised to see her, though he did seem slightly amused as he dodged the teacher's thrown chalkboard eraser. With a huff, Ichigo sauntered over and sat in his seat next to Chad by the window, wiping away the blood that was now running in his eyes. Orihime passed him a band-aid, which he took gratefully.

"Why were you late, Kurosaki?" the teacher's eyes narrowed.

Ichigo growled and casually looked out the window, as he tried to apply the band-aid on the cut. "I had to drop my little brother off at school and accidentally ran into a gang trying to mug some poor chap going to work. On my good conscience, I couldn't let that happen now, could I?" He threw the teacher and Rukia a slight smirk.

Sighing in defeat, the teacher told Rukia to take a seat next to Ichigo. Rukia gave a sparkly smile (_too sparkly if Ichigo had anything to say about it_) and went to the seat next to him. "Hi! I'm Rukia, nice to meet you!" she said as she held out her hand. He glanced down at what was written.

_Say something and you're dead!_

He smirked. _Ah, subtlety . . . thy name is Rukia_.

Ichigo shook her hand before turning (some of) his attention back to the class. His headache was getting worse and he welcomed the intellectual distraction. English had been one of his favorite subjects. Sooner than he would have liked, the bell rang for lunch and slowly Ichigo lead Rukia away from the school grounds.

She glanced around at the empty area. "Why are we here?"

He stopped and turned to look at her. Not for the first time, Rukia noticed the strange golden glint in his amber eyes. He _was_ surprised at her appearance but just hid it well. "So I can freak out without anyone knowing. What the hell are you doing here? Didn't you have to go back to that Soul Society place or whatever? And why can everybody else see you?"

She snorted. "This isn't my shinigami form; this is a gigai. A human body we can use to travel in the human world."

Ichigo frowned as he mulled that over though inwardly he was rolling his eyes. "So then why are you still here, shinigami?"

Rukia folder her arms. "Because when you took some of my powers, your own shinigami powers developed. So I consider you some of my responsibility. That and I am almost too weak right now to fight any hollows. In order for me to recover my spiritual power, I need to rest. I can't go around fighting hollows like I did before . . . and you are going to help me." Her glare made any negotiation null and void.

Ichigo blinked. _That seems a little strange. Instead of thinking she gave me her powers, she now thinks she helped me create my own powers. Interesting. But I could've sworn I only used a small amount of her reiatsu so why . . ? _"What did you say?"

Rukia sighed before grabbing a large megaphone out of nowhere and shouting. "YOU NOW HAVE SHINIGAMI POWERS AND I'M GOING TO TRAIN YOU WHILE YOU TAKE OVER MY DUTIES!"

Groaning, Ichigo fell to the ground, clutching his now-sensitive ears. His headache just magnified. "What the hell?" _**She always was the loudest one of the group, wasn't she, king?**_ He could practically see his hollow snickering at his pain.

_Shut it, Shiro. _

Sighing (he was never going to get his hearing back), Ichigo sat up before glaring at her. "Fine! I'll help you out, alright? So what do you want me to do?"

Rukia raised an eyebrow at this. She didn't think it would be so easy. "Well, for starters, we need to get you out of that human body."

Ichigo snorted. "Yeah and how are we . . .?" Suddenly, he felt something similar to a pill pop into his open mouth. A familiar feeling passed over him and Ichigo found himself in his basic shinigami form. "What . . ?" He didn't even have to feign surprise as he looked at his human body that was now sporting an awfully familiar (and mischievous) grin.

_Kon?_

More memories started pouring in. _Little Yuzu hugging Kon while she slept, Kon fighting off a hollow using Ichigo's body, Kon protecting his sisters against a sudden Arrancar attack, Kon hugging Rukia out of no where, Rukia holding a crushed pill with tears in her eyes as Ichigo looked sadly at the rubble that used to be his home. _

**Well, this is certainly . . . surprising. **Ichigo was mildly intrigued to hear such a comment from the old sword. Only Zangetsu would take something like this with such indifference.

His hollow however had no such qualms. **_What the hell? How did this happen?_**

Ichigo tried not to wince at the shouting in his head. Damn hollow was even louder than Rukia when he wanted to be. _Come on, Shiro. You really didn't think we could bring Mom back without other ramifications too, did you?_

Needless to say, that despite being surprised, he wasn't overly worried at Kon's sudden appearance. He was after all only two weeks early, all things considered. And with his appearance, Ichigo could now exit his human body in a much more efficient manner and without Rukia knowing. Still, he had not been expecting to see the perverted mod soul for a good while. He had missed the little guy, despite his unfortunate annoyances every now and again.

Rukia took Ichigo's shocked face to be a good sign. The orange-haired strawberry (_hehe strawberry, good nickname, _she thought) had been far too indifferent to everything for her liking. It almost seemed like he didn't even care what was going to happen. Too apathetic for her taste. So it was time for a little test to see if he truly was up for the responsibility of being a shinigami. But before that, an explanation was needed.

Rukia pointed at Ichigo's human body. "This here is a mod soul or soul candy. A pill with an artificial soul that Soul Society created so that shinigami such as myself can move around in the human world. Understand?"

Ichigo nodded dumbly at her explanation, still staring at Kon who was smiling back in a very anti-Ichigo kind of way.

"Good, now come with me. _It_ should be arriving any minute," Rukia ordered as she started to run off toward a playground. Ichigo started to go after her, but stopped quickly in front of the smiling and innocent (_yeah, right)_ Kon.

Quickly he lifted the mod soul from the ground using the collar of his shirt, glaring at him effectively. "If you _dare_ ruin my body, kiss any girl, or even so much as make a peep out of character, I will stick you into a girl toy and give you to my younger sister. She would _love_ to have a doll to play dress-up with." Kon paled a bit at that last statement and nodded vigorously, promising not to do those things. Satisfied, Ichigo then dropped the mod soul unceremoniously on the ground. Kon yelped slightly as he landed hard on his butt, unused to the pain, and looked at the towering and intimidating Ichigo who suddenly smirked, with a knowing look in his eyes as he folded his arms over his chest.

"That said, have fun with it. I'm sure it was lonely in that pill box at the old sandal-hat's place," he muttered quickly before running after Rukia's retreating figure, leaving a stunned Kon in the dust.

Kon watched Ichigo go then got up, cautiously dusting himself off while muttering "What a weird guy." He stood looking at the sky, frowning for a second, before grinning mischievously and running in the direction of the high school. _Ah the joys of being in a human body hehehe. _

_

* * *

_

**You do realize that that little threat will hardly deter him, don't you, Ichigo?**

Ichigo sighed, even as he ran full sprint to catch up with Rukia. _I know that, Zan, but I thought I might as well try. I'm hoping he'll at least keep out of _some _trouble this time. _

Ichigo's dark half snorted at this, unable to keep his comments to himself. **_Kon? Yeah, right. If we are lucky, he'll kiss Orihime; if we aren't, he'll kiss someone like Tatsuki who will then proceed to kill you and hold a grudge over it for the next ten years. _**

Ichigo suddenly found his heart beating with dread. _That is not helping, Shiro. _

The hollow shrugged his shoulders and yawned, not really caring either way. **_Whatever . . . wake me up when there is a real fight like an Espada or shinigami captain or something._**

Ichigo almost growled at the lazy hollow but suddenly found Rukia stopped short right before him, glancing around obviously waiting. Exasperated, Ichigo looked at her. "What are we doing here?"

"Just be quiet and watch,"she said, not even looking at him. Her eyes were on the soul of a child that was lingering on the playground. Quietly Ichigo watched and waited, already feeling the hollow coming down the street to eat the poor child soul.

It burst into view chasing the child who screamed in fear before running. Acting shocked, Ichigo looked over at Rukia who merely stared emotionlessly at the scene. "What will you do now? This is your choice. Right now you can save that soul in front of you and in the process take up the mantle of being a shinigami, or you can let it be eaten by a hollow, and continue on with your normal human existence." Ichigo hid his expression, beneath his orange bangs and Rukia tensed, wondering if she had made the right choice in leaving the decision up to him.

The hollow dove for the child soul that had fallen unceremoniously on the ground, helpless, and found itself suddenly split in half by a black and white sword with no hilt. Rukia stared at the dissolving fragments of the hollow before looking at Ichigo, a shocked expression upon her face. "So you made your de . . ."

"Enough of that crap!" Ichigo interrupted, almost shouting. Rukia quieted, looking at him. "When you saved me and my family, were you thinking that it was your shinigami duty? Were you doing it only because you had to? No, you weren't."

Rukia winced at his words before he continued, sighing. "Listen . . . I can't promise you that I will always be happy with this decision but I never go back on my word and I'm not such a lame guy that I don't pay back my debts. And from what I can tell, I have a pretty big debt owed to you already. So consider me your Substitute Soul Reaper . . . for now. Got it, shinigami?"

There was an awkward pause as Rukia digested his words, amazed at his conviction, before she exploded. "I told you, my name is Rukia . . . Kuchiki Rukia, strawberry!"

He merely scoffed at her before heading back towards the high school. "Whatever, midget," Ichigo called laughingly as she ran after him.

* * *

Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chad walked the hallways of the high school leisurely. They still had ten minutes until class and didn't even have to worry about the possibility of being late though they were a bit perplexed over the fact that Ichigo had missed having lunch with them to talk to a stranger.

"How do you think Ichigo knows the new girl?" asked Mizuiro, tapping his chin thoughtfully. It was unusual for Ichigo to be familiar with anyone let alone some transfer student.

"I don't know, . . . but she was really hot, eh?" snickered Keigo the pervert, his hands in his pockets. _Ah . . . to be so simple-minded_. Chad merely walked behind them, keeping his own thoughts to himself until they arrived at the classroom, only to find a dark aura surrounding Tatsuki in the middle of a bunch of ruined desks. The rest of the class were giving her plenty of space as she continued turning desks over in her wrath.

Keigo and Mizuiro immediately hid behind Chad, wondering what had happened to disturb the volatile teenage girl. "Demon!" they cried.

"I'm no demon!" she spat with fire, glaring at the quivering masses. Her eyes narrowed as she cracked her knuckles. "**_Ichigo_** . . . that bastard will pay when he gets back!"

Chad frowned, the only reaction they would get from the quiet giant. He wondered vaguely if he should warn his brother-at-arms of this threat but then pushed that thought aside. Tatsuki, although violent, wouldn't cause any serious harm to Ichigo. A crash echoed from the classroom as Tatsuki brought her fist down to break a desk in half and Chad's frown deepened. Then again . . .

Orihime tried to calm her friend down. "Come now, Tatsuki-chan. I'm sure . . . I think there was something wrong with Ichigo. Either way I don't think he meant it."

"What did Ichigo do?" asked Keigo tentatively. A growling Tatsuki smashed another desk.

"Well, we were sitting here after lunch when all of a sudden Ichigo came running into the room with this strange expression on his face, and kissed me, then frowned at Tatsuki, saying he couldn't kiss a girl with such a flat-chest," recalled Orihime blushing. "Then he ran away before we could react."

CRASH! and there went another desk. Mizuiro wondered vaguely who was going to pay for all of the property damage.

"THAT BASTARD IS SOOOOOOOO DEAD!" Tatsuki raged.

"I don't know, Tatsuki-chan. That does not sound like the Ichigo we know," said Chad, quietly, always the voice of reason.

Orihime nodded, her eyes glinting. "I agree, and it did not _feel _like Ichigo either . . . I'm worried something happened to him with that transfer student . . ." then suddenly she smiled, "or maybe he was taken over by fairies or replaced with a perverted robot, or became a man-eating zombie or . . . " Orihime's friends rolled their eyes at her active imagination.

Tatsuki calmed down a bit after hearing this, though her rage was still prominent in her mind. "I know, he felt wrong . . . like it was someone else in Ichigo's body. But if that's true then what the hell is going on?"

Just then the teacher walked into the room and gasped. "What happened to the classroom?"

Tatsuki quickly turned, tears in her eyes, a pout on her lips. "Teacher! A delinquent came in and destroyed the entire classroom! Can you believe it?"

The teacher looked at Tatsuki then at the rest of the class. "Is this true?"

One foolish student opened his mouth to contradict her and received a glare from Tatsuki that spoke of death to all who disobeyed. Wisely, he shut his trap and shrank into the corner of the classroom, nodding as did the rest of the class. Word from the wise: Do not go against the National Women's Karate Champ if you want to live.

The naive teacher sighed, "Well, since our classroom has basically been destroyed, I'll have to cancel class for the rest of the day, it seems."

"Woohoo! Yeah! Freedom!"

"But . . . I will be giving you extra homework to make up for it," the class groaned in unison, "So grab this assignment and go home to slave . . . I mean, work hard, my little students." The disheartened class filed to go outside.

"So . . . where do you think Ichigo went?" Mizuiro asked cautiously to Orihime, the fuming Tatsuki still next to her. Apparently she still hadn't gotten over it. Keigo and Chad walked behind them in the hallway.

"Well, I think I saw him heading over towards the middle school. Maybe he was going to see his little sisters," replied Orihime thoughtfully. Tatsuki growled again, muttering something about 'perverts and their weird tendencies.'

A group of older students were walking passed, talking excitedly. "Man, did you see how high that guy jumped? It must have been like over fifty feet in the air. It was awesome!" Chad overheard them say.

"Yeah, I know, . . . how do you think he got orange hair like that? Think it's dyed?" At this, Ichigo's friends stopped and looked at their seniors, then started running down the hall toward the middle school, one thought running through their minds.

_What the hell is going on with Ichigo?_

Somewhere not too far away, a certain shop-keeper was realizing just _what_ exactly he gave his client.

_

* * *

_

The war-veteran-turned-teenager stopped in his tracks, as he sensed a hollow presence nearby. It wasn't a very large hollow yet it could hide its presence very well. He closed his eyes briefly to concentrate, gathering up his reiatsu to pinpoint its location when his concentration was suddenly and violently broken by a cry of "You BAKA!" and a large bump on his head. Ichigo fell to the ground for the second time, clutching his bruised cranium.

"Ouch, you midget! What the hell was that for?" he cried glaring at said-woman.

Rukia stood over him smirking, her violet eyes narrowed. "I am NOT a midget."

Ichigo scowled, still rubbing the bump. "Well, I'm not a strawberry. So can we stop with the hitting?"

**Beep! Beep! HOLLOW! HOLLOW! Beep! Beep!**

Rukia frowned as she pulled out the hollow beeper. Usually her duties consisted of destroying a couple of hollows a day, in various locations. However, this indicated that on top of the hollow they just destroyed, there was another in the short distance of only a couple hundred feet. _How unusual. _Her eyes flickered over to Ichigo. "There's a hollow."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, scowling again slightly as he stood up. "Yeah, I kind of got that from the weird beeper. Where is it?"

Rukia ignored the barb as she put the hollow beeper back into her pocket. "Luckily it's only a couple hundred feet from here to the west . . . Ichigo? Ichigo, wait!" She watched as his eyes widened and he took off in that direction before she could stop him. Cursing, she ran after him as fast as her gigai could carry her. _That reckless fool._

Ichigo ran down the labyrinth of streets, waiting until Rukia could no longer see him nor sense him before switching to a low-level shunpo. With a single step, he stood on the grounds of the middle school, perched on one of the fences. He expanded his senses again, searching for the hollow signature. _Now where are you, my little soul-eating friend?_

**This is reckless, Ichigo, **advised Zangetsu. The old sword thought that if any shinigami near by, including Rukia or the old Hat-and-Clogs, sensed Ichigo using such a high-level reiatsu power such as this, they would have a lot of explaining to do, explaining that would again tip their hand early to either Aizen or Soul Society.

_Zan, I am not going to just sit back and watch events repeat themselves,_ replied Ichigo as he headed off to the west, where the hollow was._ We've already changed a lot and I can no longer accurately predict how things will turn out. I just . . . I need to know that everyone is safe . . . that I did all I could to protect them._

Zangetsu sighed in defeat at his shinigami's protective instincts that were borderline obsessive. It's that type of determination and single-mindedness that saved them in the end after all.

**Very well, just make certain that there ****is**___no one _**who can possibly trace such power back to you, **advised the zanpakuto before retreating back to his subconscious.

_I will, you worry-wart, _Ichigo replied with a smile. The old man's paranoia hadn't changed at all.

Silently, like a whisper of the wind, Ichigo stopped himself a short distance away in the branches of a tree from where he could see Kon in his human body protecting a bunch of middle schoolers against some sort of caterpillar-like hollow. It was not a bad fight either, with Kon seemingly holding his own with his super-powered legs.

Ichigo was ready to step in, just to confront the mod-soul about abusing his body, when suddenly his friends burst onto the scene, each respectively wearing their own looks of disbelief. "What the hell's going on, Ichigo?"

_Crap._

_

* * *

_Kon dodged another swipe of the hollow's sharp claws, ducking onto the ground and rolling away. What the hell was up with this thing? He couldn't kill it and it refused to back down at all. Kon glared angrily at the caterpillar-hollow, wishing it just didn't exist.

What luck he had. He finally gets a human body to use at his discretion, (something he would _never_ takes advantage of) and some kids make a few off-hand comments that totally ruin his mood. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, they are attacked by a hollow and he is forced to save them out of some age-old obligation he felt towards the human race (he was a battle-soul after all). Could it get any better?

"What the hell's going on, Ichigo?"

Kon turned his head, slightly, not taking his eyes off the hollow, seeing the big-chested goddess he had kissed earlier, the flat-chested she-demon, some giant foreigner, a brown-haired monkey, and a black-haired playboy, each standing and staring at him as he seemingly dodged and kicked the air. The monkey was the first to break out of the trance. "What the hell are you doing?" he cried, pointing at him.

The mod-soul winced at this, forced to admit he had royally screwed up with this human's body. Not only had he been jumping around, having the time of his life, but the body was now injured and the human's friends had seen him fighting an invisible monster. Oh well . . . he'll try to salvage the situation. He grinned sheepishly, toward the humans, ignoring the blood pouring into one of his eyes from a cut that had reopened. "Hey, guys, um I'm practicing my karate moves, ya know."

Each human now sported mixed looks of incredulous disbelief. _Okay, so that didn't work._ It probably didn't help that he had said it while jumping into the air to avoid the damned hollow's spiked tail but he didn't want to die now did he? Well then, it was time to do the next best thing. Glaring at the hollow and making sure that the it was focused solely on him, Kon started to back up and suddenly turned to run, drawing the hollow away from the humans. "And now I'm practicing my running, see ya, guys!" he said as he ran off.

"Wha . . .? Wait, Ichigo! Wait!" they called after him, but Kon and his super legs were meant for speed as well as kicking. There was no way they were going to catch him.

**HOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL!** The hollow was a different story. The damn thing was fast with its fifty caterpillar legs and Kon had no idea where he was going in the maze of streets. Suddenly Kon tripped over some uneven pavement, falling hard at the speed he was going and crashing into one of the aligning walls. _Dammit! _He heard the hollow come from behind, opening its mouth to strike, then nothing.

He turned around, to find the orange-haired human/shinigami whose body he was using, blocking the hollow's teeth with a rather large sword. Kon let out a sigh of relief as the human - _Ichigo if he remembered correctly_- pushed the damn thing away with a single sword stroke. Suddenly, the orange-hair turned on him angrily, glaring and grabbing Kon by his collar.

"What in the seven hells were you thinking, pill-boy?" the teenager shouted. "Whose body exactly do you think you're running around in, eh? Whose life is on the line?"

Kon, feeling guilty and stubborn, crossed his arms and turned up his nose. "Yeah, well, sorry, stupid human, maybe you SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT IT WITH ME!"

"Then WHAT THE HELL was I supposed to do, huh? Just leave my unconscious body in SOME NICE DITCH OR SOMETHING?"

"THAT'S NOT MY PROBLEM!'

"OH YES IT IS. WHILE YOU'RE IN MY BODY, YOU FOLLOW MY RULES, GOT THAT?"

"LIKE HELL I WILL!"

The hollow at this time had recovered from the attack and was now watching the exchange confusedly. Prey usually did not ignore it. It started to howl again when both of them turned on it and shouted, "SHUT THE HELL UP!" followed by a sharp kick and sword stroke to the mask.

Ichigo watched the hollow disappear disinterestedly before turning to yell at Kon some more, only to find the mod-soul quickly running down the street. "Oh no you don't," he growled before chasing after him.

Kon ran as fast as his human legs could carry him around the corner, trying to escape the overbearing strawberry, when suddenly WHAM! he was back in pill form in the hand of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Ichigo watched as his human body crumpled to the ground, and Rukia picked up the mod soul she had ambushed from behind the corner. "It seems that when I purchased this mod-soul, I was given a defect," she stated while looking at the pill in her hand that now seemed to sparkle.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, quickly inspecting his human body to see if there was any lasting damage. "That's an understatement," he paused and glanced at her. "What's wrong with it?"

"Soul Society created battle-souls to fight alongside shinigami against the hollow and gifted each with a certain enhanced ability. But after a while, they decided that it was too dangerous to have such unpredictable components in battle and proceeded to exterminate them. This little guy must have escaped before the extermination," she stated, her gaze softening slightly.

Frowning, Ichigo stared at her, wondering how he had never noticed the cracks in her Kuchiki-armor. "So basically, Soul Society created these beings and then decided to kill them at their own convenience?" It was more of a statement then a question.

Rukia nodded, wincing at the blunt way he put it. _The way he says it makes it seem as though Soul Society's rules are things to be questioned. _

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, thinking. "We don't need to give it back, do we?" Rukia looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Ichigo's face flushed with embarrassment. "Well, it's not like I feel sorry for him or anything, it's just that I need to pay him back for the mess he caused today," he said with a huff.

Rukia smirked knowingly, irritating Ichigo further. "You don't need to worry about that, I don't think, little strawberry."

"I told, you, midget. Don't call me that!" Ichigo growled before pausing. "What do you mean I don't have to worry about it? Don't ya think everyone's going to notice I can't jump fifty feet in the air?"

"Well, I had a friend go and erase all of the memories pertaining to this little guy's escapade similar to how we did your family's memories, so none will be the wiser," she stated, smiling in a sort-of-evil way.

Ichigo wondered when exactly she ran into the old sandal-hat before he groaned loudly. "Isn't that a lot of work to do that to an entire school?"he asked, still thinking about the repercussions of Kon's unusual actions in his body.

Rukia nodded. "Yeah, but since it was _his_ fault . . . he said he was doing it free of charge."

"Oh?" Ichigo stared at Rukia, trying to force her to reveal her co-conspirator a.k.a. Old Hat-n-Clogs but she looked away, ignoring the question hanging in the air. He inwardly groaned. It seems he was going to have to do this the hard way.

"Yep . . . enough chit-chat. You better get back into your body before you miss the rest of the school day," she said, already starting to walk back, the happy mod soul tucked away safely in her coat pocket.

Grumbling, Ichigo got into his human body, wincing slightly as his headache came back full force, and walked behind her slowly, every bit aware of the shinigami scientist that had been stalking them throughout the day. Just to play with the mad man a bit (_he certainly had earned it)_, Ichigo stopped and turned quickly, staring hard with narrowed eyes at the corner of a street, behind which a sweating Urahara hid. Smiling slightly to himself, (_that little trick was gonna cost the paranoid and fatally curious exile a good night's sleep) _Ichigo turned back to his walk, satisfied with Zan's chuckle and Shiro's outright laughter in the back of his mind.

_Oh yeah, today was a good day. _

* * *

The night however failed to be the same. Ichigo sat on his bed, his back resting against the wall, staring at nothing in particular, his thoughts circling through his mind. The day had been tiring, what with the acting and his friends' constant suspicions (apparently the memory eraser doesn't work as well on them - go figure, and dealing with an angry Tatsuki hadn't been fun either) yet he found he could not sleep. Even now after years and years of lonely peace, every time he closed his eyes he could still see the battlefield.

_Hey Ichigo, do you think this fighting will ever end? _Wistful Chad, his brother-at-arms, stood next to him, looking out on the clashing sands, every bit the human teenager he was.

_Hey taicho, we'll always follow you. _His squad of make-shift fighters fresh out of the Academy . . . their faces flashed through his mind.

_Ichigo, come on, trust us. We're your friends, we'll survive this and go back home alive, just like we always do. _Renji's grin as he raced to face his opponent.

Ichigo was forced out of his reverie by the sound of soft footsteps in the hallway. He raised his head just as little Arashi cautiously opened the door, the lion plushy in his arms, tears in his eyes. Ichigo smiled softly, before getting off his bed. Soft even breathing coming from the closet indicated that Rukia was unaware of their little visitor.

"What's wrong, Arashi?" No answer, the little 6-year-old had his head down, his light brown bangs hiding his expression but Ichigo heard a sniffle, and his gaze softened.

"Did you have a nightmare?" The bed-head brown locks shook as Arashi nodded, still sniffling. "Wanna talk about it?" A shake of the head - a negative.

"Okay, do you want to spend the night with me then?" Arashi looked up to find his older brother kneeling to look him in the eye. Ichigo grinned softy. "'Cause I had a nightmare too and could use some company."

Arashi's eyes widened a tad, perhaps at the thought of his brave and strong older brother having a nightmare and he grinned back, nodding. In one swoop, Ichigo picked up the little boy and carried him to his bed, assuming his previous sitting position with his back to the wall, but now Arashi sat in his lap, his head resting on the his brother's chest, clutching the lion plushy to his chest. They sat like that for a while in comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

"What was yours?" The boy's voice was soft and shook slightly but was filled with child-like curiosity. Ichigo tensed sightly in remembrance then smirked with an idea.

"I don't know if I should tell you . . . it was really scary," he said, knowing it would just peak his little brother's curiosity.

Arashi turned around, a little scowl on his face as he clutched Kon close. "Tell me! I can handle it!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes slightly, still smirking. "I don't know, Arashi."

The boy scowled again before pouting. "Please?"

"Okay, okay, I'l tell you mine if you tell me yours, alright?" Ichigo suggested. The boy nodded eagerly, wanting to find out his older brother's weakness.

Ichigo leaned forward, a serious look on his face as he stared into Arashi's wide brown eyes. He started to whisper, acting nervous and looking around to make sure no one heard. Arashi leaned forward too in anticipation of this great secret. "Mine was about . . (a pause for dramatic effect) . clowns!"

Arashi face scrunched up with a confused look. "Clowns?" Then he scoffed. "Those aren't scary."

Ichigo, nodded trying his best not to laugh, as he looked at Arashi's expression of disbelief. "Yep, _evil_ clowns that kidnap you in the night and do experiments on you."

_**Bwahahahahahahaha! Clowns? Really, king? **_Shiro could not believe what he just heard as he laughed. **_Attention, everyone! The Great Kurosaki Ichigo, Hero of the Winter War also known as the Guardian himself and exiled Captain Commander of Soul Society is afraid of clowns! Bwahahahaha!_**

Ichigo internally raised an eyebrow at the fun Shiro was getting out of this. _Oh I wouldn't laugh so hard, Shiro. You're afraid of them too. _

_That_ cut the hollow's laughter short. _**Hmph! I'm afraid of nothing! **_the proud hollow cried, scowling at the suggestion that suddenly ruined his fun.

Ichigo internally raised an eyebrow. _Oh really? So you wouldn't mind if I revealed you to Urahara-san or, worse, Mayuri?_

Shiro turned an even whiter shade of white before scowling. **_Point taken. _**

Sighing, Ichigo turned his gaze to his younger brother. "Okay, Arashi. I told you mine, so you gotta tell me yours."

Arashi looked down, nervously, clutching the plushy even tighter as his voice spilled in a waterfall of words. "Well, um I see this huge scary thing with two glowing yellow eyes and wearing a white mask. It attacks you and mom and dad and then it laughs and it's really evil and leaves me alone in the darkness and I don't know what to do and . . . " Tears started to pour out as the nightmare's effects came back with vengeance. Ichigo ran a hand through his hair, sighing before gathering his younger brother into a hug.

"I'm sorry, Arashi," he said softly as he held the shaking little boy. "But I promise that I'll always protect you, okay?"

Arashi pushed himself slightly away from his older brother's chest to look him in the eyes. "D'you promise?" the voice was no longer shaking, even though Arashi's eyes still had some unshed tears.

Ichigo nodded, his eyes filled with resolve and determination glowing in the light of the moon that shone into the teenager's bedroom. "Always."

Arashi smiled softly, before giving his older brother a hug. Ichigo hugged him back, taking in his soft brown hair, his thin arms and legs, and even that smell of new grass that Arashi always seemed to wear, romping around with his friends on the playground. Then as Arashi fell asleep, Ichigo stayed up, listening to Arashi's rhythmic heartbeat and calm even breathing, repeating it like a mantra. _I promise . . . I promise . . . I promise._

Again Ichigo's eyes seemed to burn, emotions overcoming reason. _Zan, I've made my decision about our little power problem. _

**Oh? **Ichigo grinned at the old man's indifference. He wondered if all zanpakutos had personalities that were the exact opposite of their counterparts.

_Yep . . . Tomorrow night, we go to see the Family. _

Shiro grinned in a predatory fashion as he made the connection, putting in his two cents._ **Finally.**_

Unbeknown to the time-traveler and his fellow counterparts, outside his bedroom window, a black cat with unusual human intelligence watched her charge with narrowed yellow eyes, her tail twitching.

And somewhere the wind of the night whispered faintly where a group of Vizards long since forgotten lived in unjustified exile.

_. . . The gears are turning . . ._

_

* * *

_

A/N: Booyah! Over 7300 words on that one. What a feat, eh? Sorry, it took a little longer than I thought and if something doesn't add up to you in the story, feel free to tell me : ) Also thank you so much for all of your reviews and shout out to _animelover1993_, _Black Sun Upon an Icy Sky_, and _Neko of Death_ as well as various others for your corrections, ideas, and support. Keep up the hard work, fanfiction fanatics, and I'll keep it coming : )


	6. The family

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and give credit where it is due.

_Italics: thoughts/memories_

_**Italic/Bold: Shiro**_

**Bold: Zangetsu**

**

* * *

**_Chapter 6_

_The family . . . _

_

* * *

_

Boredom. It was the bane of all shinigamis' existence. Exiled ones, especially. With nothing to entertain them and no duties to uphold, they were prone to madness, despair, anything to get them through the never-ending isolation. The Vizards were the lucky ones only in that they had each other in their exile. Their bond was so close, that many of the fighters in the war referred to them as _the Family_. Betrayal from the trusted had made the hybrids incredibly closed-minded. Kurosaki Ichigo considered himself lucky that they even considered him an ally, let alone one of their own.

He walked to the warehouse slowly in his bound shinigami form, the red tattoo on his shoulder now pulsing with trapped power. His headache had increased tenfold over night yet he had hid it well under his mask of teenage attitude during the day (_his mother had even sent him to his room early, claiming he was too grouchy for her dinner table_). Rukia had not been suspicious, fully soaking up the attention from his parents and friends, neither of which had suspected his pain.

In order to escape for the night, he had convinced Kon to act like him at least until morning, though he had to give up some pictures he had taken of Rukia, a fact he was not particularly proud of. He had slipped carefully away from his room, under the cover of darkness, after waiting fully for the household to fall asleep, then proceeded to shunpo the rest of the way until he came to the warehouse district. As he walked to the exiles' home-away-from-home, Ichigo could no longer keep the pain from his face.

_Almost there . . . almost there . . . just a little longer. _A mantra echoed in his head and he wondered vaguely if he would have enough control once he was in Hachi's shield to even convince the Vizards of his intentions before he truly let loose.

Quickly and quietly he paused to expand his strained reiatsu, feeling for any hollows or pursuers. His eyes widened, a curse escaping his lips as he came across the familiar feeling of an exiled kitty cat.

_Crap! What the hell is Yoruichi doing here?_

_**Ah . . . yeah, I forgot to tell you, Yoruichi has been tailing us all day.**_

Ichigo had to physically force himself not to go into his inner world to beat the hell out of his hollow. _WHAT?_

_**Yep, she's been tailing us all day. I can't believe how bad your reiatsu-sensing is, king. I think we need to up your training, hehehehe. **_Truth be told, Shiro had been blocking his reiatsu senses a bit. With Ichigo distracted, Shiro found this to be a perfect opportunity to mess with his king. Also Yoruichi was one of his favorites to fight. Her bloodlust was almost on par with Kenpachi's.

Sensing Shiro had some hand in this, Ichigo was starting to see red, and clenched his fists. _Think Ichigo, anger will get you no where_._ Try counting to 10. . . . __1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . ._ _Zan, please beat him senseless for me . . . . . . old man?_

The zanpakuto's voice was quiet and tired, more like an old weary man than a powerful soul-sword. **I . . . apologize Ichigo . . . I've been trying to keep your power under control . . . it's proving quite the task. **

Ichigo's mind was racing, making his headache even worse. He was certain that Urahara had been the one to put Yoruichi on his track. The two exiles were inseparable what with their quirks and similar circumstances, yet complete opposites in their personalities. While Yoruichi often played the rabid dog (_or cat_) itching for a fight, Urahara was constantly calculating every movement of his enemy, of his unpredictable variables. Ichigo really hoped he was the latter not the former. Yoruichi, as much as Ichigo admired her, was not a patient person, which meant she was simply following Urahara's orders and waiting for the perfect time to strike.

This was not good.

Also for Ichigo – the war veteran whose very existence depended upon his awareness of his surroundings – to be so distracted as to not sense her reiatsu at all.

This was _not _good.

**Ichigo . . . I suggest we move on with the plan . . . even if Yoruichi and Urahara are aware of our unusual abilities . . . if we spin this just right . . . we can make it so that both the Vizard family and the other exiles are blissfully unaware of our true knowledge . . . our true power.**

Ichigo sighed heavily. He didn't like deceiving his allies, but as of right now it was the only option. Too much time had passed for him to make any real difference in the relationship between the shinigami hybrids and the ol' Hat and-Clogs anyway. He could only move forward with the plan.

Placing Yoruichi and the crazy scientist out of his mind, he smirked slightly as he continued on his trek toward the warehouse . . . toward the _Family_.

* * *

Hiyori was bored . . . a common occurrence and never a good thing.

Because . . . once she became bored, she became slightly sadistic. She looked around at her fellow exiles as they lounged and settled in for the night. Shinji was reading a book; Love was reading manga; Hachi was grilling a few steaks using one of those strange human devices; Lisa was practicing her techniques with Kensei while Kuna cheered, and Rose was doing his hair. She sighed dramatically. _Boring! So bored!_

A smirk reached Hiyori's features as she thought of a way to liven it up a bit. _Perfect. _

Discreetly as she could, hiding her reiatsu as well, Hiyori snuck up to the distracted Shinji (_it must have been a very good book)_ and swiped it right from his fingers, before backing away quickly. Shinji looked like someone caught in an ambush, staring at his empty hands, before turning to fully glare at the book thief.

Hiyori tensed, the victory smirk still on her lips as she dangled the book between her fingers. "Looking for something, Shin-_chan_?"

"_Give back the book, Hiyori_," he growled, his voice dangerously low. It must be one of his favorites. Oh well. She merely shook her head in response, tucking the book into one of her pockets. A visible twitch from his eye was the only warning she got before he pounced . . . and the chase was on.

Tag was one of the various ways the Vizards entertained themselves. It was tiring, fun, and very, very childish. After numerous years of solitude, what else were they to do? So as Shinji chased Hiyori around their desert-like home, most of the others could not help but join in what they considered to be fun, trying to catch the surprisingly elusive Hiyori (_even Lisa, the fastest of them, was having difficulty pinpointing her location_).

The only one of them that kept out of the game was Hachi who watched pleasantly from his station in front of the grill, the same way a grandfather watched his children play.

Suddenly, Hachi tensed, turning quickly to the side, toward the entrance of the barrier and the warehouse. Shinji as well as Lisa and Kensei, the more serious and observant members of their family, noticed the change in their friend's reiatsu and stopped the game, tensing as well, their hands quickly moving toward their zanpakutos.

Shinji's voice was the first to cut through the tension. "What is it, Hachi?"

Their fellow Vizard did not answer right away, his face still turned from them, but they could almost hear . . . a puzzled frown upon his features. "I sense . . . _something_ outside the barrier."

"What is it, Hachi-san?" asked Kuna, those big eyes of hers always curious. The others had stopped playing already, noticing belatedly the chilled atmosphere.

Hachi frowned again, his eyes not-seeing them as he spread his reaitsu senses out, trying to determine exactly what the phenonemon was.

"Is it a shinigami?" asked Lisa. "Or a hollow, perhaps?" Her glasses glinted in the false sunlight as she thought of a possible enemy so close to home.

Hachi shook his head slowly. "Not exactly . . . it feels more like . . . " Hachi's frown turned to almost an open-mouthed gasp, like a fish trying desperately for air. His next words came out as a whisper but immediately put everyone of them on edge. "_It's in the barrier."_

Silence reigned as all of them pulled out their zanpakutos, their bodies tensing like springs. It was unheard of . . . someone coming through the barrier, without force, without so much as a shout or whisper even. _What was this thing?_

They heard nothing, could sense nothing, yet found that the air had suddenly become thick and heavy . . . as though anticipating as well.

"Oh? Were you guys playing tag? Can I join in?" A foreign voice, soft and confident, low and rumbling with . . . either mirth or insult, broke the silence from behind them.

Shinji turned around quickly, his heart beating rapidly in his chest as did the rest of the Vizards. They . . . in all of their years as shinigami outcasts, had never had anyone sneak up on them . . . not when they were so tense, so aware. It was death to any exile, anyone on the run from others, alone and without aid, to be unaware of their surroundings . . . a vital tool for survival. Quickly all of them took in the appearance of the intruder, judging his threat-level.

A white haori, symbolic of the Gotei thirteen elite with a torn black hakami sticking out underneath hung loosely on his strong shoulders, revealing a bare chest underneath, flapped in the eternal wind that surrounded him.

A large butcher knife of a sword covered in tattered white wrappings was strapped to his back with red ribbon.

He looked about twenty-five if human appearances were anything to go by and yet . . . there was something about him, something within that made Shinji's hair stand on end, as though appearances deceived so easily (_Aizen-teme had made sure of that). _

His bright - _tiger, tiger burning bright _- amber eyes took them in, as though swallowing them whole with their intensity.

Bright orange hair, spiky on the top, cascaded down his shoulders, fanning across his back.

His skin was slightly tan from long days in the sun or heat, his muscles even in the simple movements seemed to stretch and slide beneath, like a relaxed predator waiting. A soft smirk, something caught between arrogance and confidence, tugged at his lips.

His low almost hidden reiatsu felt . . . unusual to say the least.

"What is a . . . _shinigami_ doing here?" The disgust and outrage in Lisa's voice made Shinji wince, even if he shared the sentiment. This was their _home . . . _none of them appreciated the sudden intrusion that made them feel violated . . . vulnerable in a place where they should be safe.

The man's smirk fell to a frown almost instantly. "_Substitute _shinigami. I am not a _real_ one, at least not by Soul Society's standards." He gave a small laugh at that, as though it was a private joke.

Now it was Shinji's turn to frown at that statement. He had not heard of a substitute shinigami and did not even know what it implied. His curiosity getting the best of him, he had to ask, "Does that mean you are borrowing a shinigami's powers or . . . ?"

The amber eyes seemed to burn as they focused on him. "It means that I am still alive . . . technically, my soul chain is still attached to my body. Interesting, isn't it?" The man's smile seemed a little bitter at that . . . as though it was anything but interesting.

"That doesn't matter! What does is that you charged into here, unannounced! You think we are just going to let you walk away from here, _shinigami_?" Hiyori's viper tongue always at work.

The man frowned again sheepishly."Ah yes, I apologize, it is my first time coming here and Ol' Hat 'n Clogs sent me to you to train. Said I needed your help with a certain problem I am having. So I let myself in through the barrier . . . I didn't know it would put you so on edge."

The orange-haired man's sudden embarrassed grin looked like something caught between a lie and a truth. "It is a very nice _home_ you have, by the way." _That_ was truth, a warmth echoing from the words.

_Ol' Hat 'n Clogs? Did he mean Urahara? _

Shinji was suspicious. Who wouldn't be? The man seemed to be a contradiction, the restrained power rolling off of him spoke of hard training and life-and-death battles. No hollow reiatsu to speak of. What could he possibly be having trouble with? Not only that but why had Urahara failed to contact them about this? Was he lying? How did Urahara know where they were in the first place? They hadn't had contact with him in decades. It just didn't make sense.

But they weren't exactly in the position to question him. The aura radiating off of this stranger was assaulting their senses, their reiatsu felt engulfed as though a vacuum or cyclone had suddenly graced them with its presence. The man's sword hand twitched and their own zanpakutos were suddenly out, in defense, their bodies tensing. The shinigami (_that is all Shinji could call him - his shoulders, his stance reeked of Soul Society training_) frowned at their body language, as though he had not expected them to fight against him.

"Hmmm . . . I had not expected a fight so soon, I had merely assumed you had wanted to talk first . . . but . . . " he paused, then raised his reiatsu a little in retaliation to theirs. His amber eyes, glowing with a fire they could not recognize - _only war veterans bare the true flame of battle - _did not ease their tension. "If it is a fight you want, then I would be happy to provide. I have gone over a decade without a _hard_ battle. Do not disappoint me."

* * *

Duck. Dodge. Block. Duck. Dodge. Block. Duck. Dodge. Block.

Ichigo gave a sigh . . . even as he dodged another right hook from Kensei, another sword slash from Lisa, those creepy vines from Rose (_he had never understood those_). He hated defensive fighting. Always had. When he was younger, more arrogant, maybe even ignorant, he would say that his power was meant for defending . . . for protecting. Hell, he was given the name of _the Guardian_ for a reason.

In the beginning of the war, that first real fight with Aizen, when he had finally accepted his power in its entirety, Ichigo had come to a realization. He could say he fought to protect all he wanted but he was still fighting. His focus was still on winning, on surviving, . . . and he loved it.

_Ichigo, do you want to fight or do you want to live? _Zangetsu's original question, the one that had sealed his fate, followed him wherever he went, it seemed.

Even now as he watched the Vizards ready themselves for another assault, as he himself took out the sealed form of Zangetsu, not even bothering to release his shikai . . . at least not yet, he felt the pull of battle, the tug of a feral grin upon his lips, and knew that fighting, battling was what he was meant to do . . . these were just the wrong opponents.

During the war, he had made sure no one . . . and he meant _no one_ . . . ever saw him battle, _truly_ battle Aizen. Because if they did, they would see the eery similarities . . . the odd coincidences too alike to ignore. That first battle where words and blows were exchanged, where Aizen felt the shiver of fear looking into those amber eyes, made Ichigo realize the ties between them. True, their motives were different and their appearances, their ages and their experiences, but if anyone ever saw them fight, they would find themselves watching two beings of astronomical power trying to kill themselves over their beliefs. . . two sides of the mirror.

They were destined to wage war against one another, constantly tearing at each other like the Titans and Gods of ancient times.

It was a burden he hated with every fiber of his being, but one he also had accepted long ago . . . similar to his acceptance of his hollow. After Aizen had attacked Kurakura town, had threatened his _home_, Ichigo could no longer care about what others felt, or how his precious people saw him. He would become that monster, the only creature capable of taking on the _Titan_ in all of his mighty glory. Leaving all of his inhibitions behind, all he cared about, all he saw, was Aizen's demise and he knew by the scathing yet shaken look Aizen had sent him when the battle had left him wounded and barely able to escape, that the feeling was mutual.

Like ying and yang, fire and water, two forces pushing and pulling against one another for dominance.

_I want to win._

His reiatsu, his power, began to rise and rumble around him, like a dog puling at his leash. It called to be used. Ichigo smiled softly in response, even as he blocked Shinji's sword then jumped to avoid Hiyori's viper blade, all the while trying to keep his eyes on the other four. _Let the counterattack begin._

**I wholeheartedly agree, Ichigo. **

**_Let's go wild, King!_**

They would be a little disappointed.

_

* * *

_Hachi watched with narrowed eyes as the intruder dodged Shinji's and Hiyori's zanpakutos at once, with a speed that left the rest of them rather perplexed. They had all entered _shikai _the moment the battle had begun yet he had not called out any name for his sword, or any attack whatsoever. In fact, he had yet to show any offensive strategy. It made Hachi wonder if he was telling the truth after all.

Suddenly there was a lull in the battle, a pause as the Vizards backed off, eyeing the stranger warily as he stood, true and strong, that ridiculously large zanpakuto balanced upon his shoulders. He watched them all, equally on edge, a feral grin that did not match the subdued amusement in his eyes. A single eyebrow raised in question.

_Surely that's not the end, right?_

Hachi shared a hard look with Shinji, before he entered a familiar stance, readying his reiatsu for a particularly difficult spell. Shinji, Hiyori, Kuna, and Lisa charged forward, to distract the shinigami while Kensei, Love, and Rose stayed behind to guard Hachi as he focused on his spell. Under different circumstances, Hachi would have found the entire situation a little ridiculous, all seven ex-captain-level shinigami fighting a single intruder. However, the controlled power, the restraint, the feral look in his amber eyes even as he charged forward to engage with the four exiles was anything but ridiculous.

They needed every advantage they could get, even if it included underhanded tactics such as this.

Hachi gave a slight nod toward Shinji, indicating he was ready, his power gathered waiting for just the right moment when the intruder was distracted.

_There._

Hachi's reiatsu flared and condensed into the air as he thrust his hands down, orange walls of power surrounding the intruder just as he was dodging Rose's vine-like whip.

The Vizards jumped away, spreading out into a circle to make sure he couldn't escape the spell's affects. Upon seeing them stop as well as the sudden barrier impeding his movement, the orange-haired shinigami's eyes widened and his head whipped over to look at Hachi as though amazed that he would resort to such a spell. He did not seem overly worried at being caught, just a little perplexed and almost disappointed.

Putting his zanpakuto away, Shinji grinned, thinking he had overcome the surprisingly resilient intruder. "Well, _now_ we can question you without worrying about any _violent_ interruptions," he drawled out. In truth, Shinji was actually more worried about Hiyori than the intruder but no point in letting him know that. The other Vizards panting from the skirmish, still tense, put their zanpakutos away stiffly, unwiling to believe it was safe just yet.

Oddly enough, the stranger merely smirked in return, stabbing his zanpakuto into the ground, as though to signify a truce, then crossed his arms and relaxed his stance a bit. "Ask away."

Shinji frowned at the unusual reaction but went on to more important things. "How did you get into the barrier?" The only people that Shinji knew of who were able to get into the barrier was the seven of them yet this man . . . this stranger had slipped in, as though he had done it before. Shinji wanted to know how.

The stranger's smirk turned mischievous. "It accepted me."

Ah . . . what a simple and frustratingly confusing answer. Hiyori opened her mouth to yell, but was cut off by the patient Lisa who merely raised an eyebrow in question. The rest found it necessary to turn toward the pondering Hachi, who was the resident expert on such matters.

He was frowning in a rather discomforting way.

"I apologize, Intruder-san, but I fail to see how exactly it . . . accepted you. To my knowledge, this barrier I created is meant to first, conceal our presence, and second, . . . "

"Protect you, right?" the intruder interrupted, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Well, since it knew that I meant you no harm, all I had to do was convince it of my promise. Then I lowered my reiatsu-level significantly and slipped through. Pretty simple."

It seemed anything but simple; however, the intruder's expression indicated an end of _that_ discussion. Coughing slightly at the awkward silence, Lisa drew some attention to herself and found those burning amber eyes looking at her.

"Um, next question . . . what is your affiliation with Soul Society?"

The intruder openly grinned at this question. "Ah, I was wondering when you would get around to that. What do you think it is?"

Shinji frowned. This interrogation wasn't going as planned. If anything, this man was too much of an enigma to antagonize yet there was something about him that made Shinji more comfortable than with any shinigami before. Odd.

"Well, you are wearing the cloak of one of the Gotei 13 squads, and yet you say you are merely a substitute. So one must conclude that you are either a spy sent from Soul Society to find us or you were telling the truth about still being alive and they gave you that cloak out of respect," Kensei replied, his hands in his pockets, eyes never leaving the intruder's. Leave it to Kensei to be so deductive.

For a second, the stranger's face became a cold mask before it softened into a smirk.

"I forgot how insightful you were, Kensei-san," he said, the familiarity in his voice making Kensei's shoulders tense. "You are more or less correct. However, my relationship with Soul Society has been . . . non-existent as of late so you no longer have to worry about that." There was a wistfulness in his voice at that, and his eyes seemed to look past them, those amber fires darkening to a warm brown.

"Fine, then what the hell are you here for? What can we do for some shinigami wanna-be?" Hiyori growled, crossing her arms.

"You know, I didn't think it was a requirement for such lousy fighters to have such lousy manners as well," he smirked at Hiyori.

"What?" Hiyori growled, her hand immediately going to her face for her Vizard mask, before Shinji put a hand her shoulder.

"Now, now, intruder-san, what do you mean?" asked Rose.

"Baaa, none of you have even asked my name," he replied, pouting for a second. "Even the bastards in the Eleventh Squad know that. Do you not even consider me a real opponent?" His eyes were filled with mirth as though such a notion was ridiculous.

There was something about his cold tone, that sounded awfully familiar . . . that struck a note in their memories, leaving a bad taste in their mouths. This intruder sounded like _him._

At that thought, something in the air changed. It grew tighter and tenser. Shinji found himself growing cold, a shiver running up his spine as all amusement was lost. He found the words on his tongue even before he could stop himself.

"Are you related in any way to a man known as Sosuke Aizen?"

There was no warning, not even a hint of what happened next.

The air pressure rose in an instant and Shinj as well as the other Vizards found themselves forced to their knees as an overwhelming power made itself known. Shinji even had trouble lifting his head as though a great weight had settled on his shoulders. He noticed that Hachi's shield didn't shatter. It simply disappeared as the shinigami walked casually through it, radiating anger and power rolled into one terrifying aura.

The shinigami's voice was a low growl, filled with emotions that they couldn't identify. **_"Don't . . . EVER compare ME to THAT traitor."_**

Shinji nodded slowly and the pressure dropped instantly. He gasped for air as he rose with shaking knees to stand at eye-level with this . . . man.

"Very well . . . if you are not with _him_ or _the shinigamis _than who are you with?"

The anger in the shinigami's face melted away suddenly into a mask similar to sorrow or loneliness if you prefer. His voice barely came out as a whisper. "No one. I stand alone."

Shinji thought deeply about his reaction, his obvious dislike of Aizen, as well as his disassociation with Soul Society. There was a story there, behind those amber fires that bordered on insanity and despair, . . . one with an unhappy ending that Shinji suddenly didn't want to know.

Deciding something, the self-declared head Vizard grinned diplomatically. "Well . . . then Mr. . . . ," he looked expectantly at the shinigami, who returned the grin as well.

"Ichigo . . . just call me Ichigo."

_One who protects, huh?_ For some reason Shinji found that highly amusing. So did the others, except for a different reason.

"Strawberry, eh? What kind of name is that?" shouted Hiyori, sneering slightly.

Shinji glanced over at Ichigo to see his reaction and found him smiling softly, his eyes glazed as though lost. "Yeah . . . what kind of a name is that?" he muttered. There was an awkward silence after that as the shinigami or Ichigo gave them each a look as though memorizing every detail, those amber eyes piercing their very soul. Shinji found it really disconcerting. He opened his mouth to ask another question but Ichigo just closed his eyes and sighed.

"Well, I have to get going, long day and all, but it was fun playing. I'll stop by next week to see how you all are coming along." And suddenly he was gone, a shunpo so fast and perfectly performed, it left barely a trace of reiatsu.

_Okay . . . that was weird_.

As Hachi confirmed he was no longer in the barrier, Hiyori frowned and turned toward Shinji. "What did he mean 'how we are all coming along'?"

Shinji bit his lip, his thoughts going on over-drive. The fight, the overwhelming yet oddly unthreatening presence, his non-affiliation with Soul Society, all of this gave Shinji a bad feeling. That, along with his obvious hatred of Aizen as well as his forlorn look when they had asked who he was affiliated with, sent shivers up Shinji's spine as though a violent storm were coming. _And perhaps one is,_ he thought.

He would be a fool if he had missed the signs and he turned to let the other Vizards know exactly what he thought the Substitute shinigami had come for.

The_ Family_ could not mistake the seriousness in their leader's eyes as he stated, " He's preparing us for something . . . something involving Aizen."

* * *

Ichigo released the shunpo with a sigh in an abandoned alley, not too far from the warehouse. He looked about himself and tension released from his shoulders as his reiatsu circled about, almost joyous in its freedom.

**You shouldn't do that, Ichigo.** Ichigo turned to the right of him, to find both halves of his soul manifested in the real world. Zangetsu looked a lot better than previously, like a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, and even Shiro seemed to have enjoyed the adrenaline of the fight.

"Come on, Zan. It's not as though anyone can feel my energy right now. And I even kept out of shikai," Ichigo whined. Zangetsu gave him a stern look. True, he was in his most basic state but sometimes the old zanpakuto thought his master was completely ignorant of the potency of his own power.

**Even though that is so, Ichigo, it is necessary for us to appear weaker. You know this as well as I.**

Ichigo huffed but nodded begrudgingly and watched indifferently as his sword reapplied the tattoo upon his shoulder. Wincing, he felt his body grow tense again and the air surrounding his body seemed to tighten almost unbearably. How long could he last, hiding his power like this?

Zangetsu seemed to follow his train of thought. **Sooner or later, others will notice a discrepancy between your skill and power, but until then we will just have to wait. **Both Ichigo and Shiro nodded in acceptance before the the sword and hollow returned to Ichigo's racing mind. He was thinking back to Urahara and Yoruichi.

Shrugging his shoulders, at the likely confrontation, Ichigo began an enjoyable walk back through the still-standing Kurakura town, a reminder of why such precautions were necessary. It was still a few hours before the sun rose, and he hoped he could get some sleep before the day started. It seemed like it would be an exciting one.

* * *

Ichigo had been right in his previous understanding that Yoruichi was not a patient person. She had waited a full five minutes after Ichigo had entered the warehouse before reporting the unusual behavior of her charge back to Urahara. It was one of the few times she had seen that know-it-all-scientist persona of his crack.

"He did WHAT?" he shouted, standing up in surprise, startling the black cat. "Are you sure?"

Yoruichi's tail twitched in annoyance. "Of course, I'm sure. I know a low-level shunpo when I see one and I'm telling you right now, Urahara, that boy used it, rather proficiently I might add. However, he looked exhausted after and seemed to stumble the last few steps before he reached the warehouse."

Urahara sat back down, seemingly in shock, his eyes serious. "What else did Kurosaki-san do?"

Yoruichi then proceeded to tell him where the boy went and how she couldn't follow into the warehouse because of a barrier. The scientist's mind raced through explanations of the eldest Kurosaki sibling's behavior. Finding none, he sighed. Beside his previous theory of the boy being a prodigy, it was completely illogical that any shinigami be able to shunpo after less than 24 hours of their 'birth,' as he called it. Yet this enigma of a teenager managed to do that as well as some other suspicious activity, without overly worrying anyone else. Also what was in the warehouse district that Kurosaki-san had to go there tonight, with such urgency that he even used shunpo.

"Let us lie low for now, until we have a full grasp of the boy. I highly doubt it's anything serious. I mean, he just entered our world two days ago," drawled Urahara, trying to wave the anxious feeling in his gut off. He relied on facts and equations, not instincts.

Yoruichi merely raised an eyebrow before sighing. "Fine, do you still want me to trail him?" Urahara nodded and she left with a slight huff, unnoticed by the brooding scientist.

Ichigo's unusual behavior was a factor he had not considered when he had agreed to helping the little Kuchiki. In truth, perhaps he should have been watching the boy since that encounter with him years ago. Thinking on it, he shook his head. No, that wouldn't do. Isshin would have had his hide if he had found out that the old scientist-buddy of his was possibly experimenting on his son. Hell, he'd be lucky if he could walk later after last night's events.

Smirking, Urahara decided that those protective instincts of that eldest Kurosaki boy were definitely inherited.

* * *

The next day found Ichigo in a good mood, noticed by all. His headache was gone and despite the now familiar tightened feeling around his body, he was almost completely pain-free. He was even close to smiling as he escorted his younger brother to his school.

"What are you so happy about, nii-chan?" asked Arashi as he looked up with those big brown eyes. Ichigo felt his eyes soften as he smirked and swooped down, picking up the younger boy and placing him on his shoulders.

"I am reallllyyyyyyy close to protecting everyone, Arashi," Ichigo said. "I'll be stronger soon and no one will ever be able to take our family away from _us_." The word was said with finality and laced with determination.

"And I'll get to help right?" The boy's voice was proud and excited, obviously inheriting his brother's own protective tendencies.

Ichigo smiled softly at that and looked up at him. "You already are, buddy, you already are." Soon the walk was over and Ichigo bade good-bye to his little brother for the day before beginning his own journey towards school.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Ah he knew that voice. Grinning, he turned to find his red-haired bubbly-if slightly imaginative classmate brightly smiling at him and waving, next to a surprisingly grumpy looking Rukia. Or maybe not so surprisingly . . . Oh, that's what he forgot about this morning. He was supposed to wake her up. _Whoops._

_**You're dead, King.**  
_

"Hey, Inoue, Rukia, what's up?" he stated cautiously as he approached the two girls, staying as far away from the angry midget as was smiling in that dangerously sparkly way that reminded him of  
Uohana-taicho from the 4th division. And it didn't get much scarier than that.

Orihime smiled even more brightly while eyeing both Rukia and the nervous Ichigo, sensing a story. "Oh, so you already know Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo nodded while scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, Inoue, don't you remember that she's the new transfer student?" Something on Orihime's foot though caught his attention and he winced quickly before heading down the street. "Anyway, shouldn't we be getting to school?" he stated quickly, slinging his schoolbag over his shoulder and continuing down the street, but not before sharing a look with Rukia.

_We'll talk later. _

Her eyes widened and she nodded slightly before pulling Orihime along.

It was on the roof during the lunch period, that they were able to meet. Luckily there had been no hollows or anything during the morning classes though Ichigo still hadn't been able to focus. Seriously, it was easy the first lifetime; it'd be the same in the second.

"Ow! Dammit, Rukia, you may be a girl but you sure as hell punch like a man," Ichigo shouted as he rubbed the sore spot on his head, checking to see if there was any blood. There was another punch, this time on his arm. "Dammit, woman, stop hitting me. I said I was sorry!"

"Sorry, doesn't cut it! You left me and Kon behind in that closet!" she spat venomously. "Not only did I have to wake myself up, but I missed breakfast and almost got lost. You're lucky I ran into that Inoue-girl or you would have been toast."

Rubbing his shoulder, Ichigo scowled. "Yeah, well, still don't have to hit me."

"Quit being such a baby," Rukia said before the smirk left her face and she turned to look at him seriously. "Besides, you noticed _it_, right?"

Ichigo nodded turning his back to her and looking down in the school courtyard below, where the red-hair bubble of a girl bounded after her best friend, ignoring the hollow-inflicted injury on her leg.

Cluctching at the silver fence that separated him from her, Ichigo's reiatsu flared slightly as grim memories began to swirl . . . memories of blood and battle, her screams, her pleas, before settling on an older one of her tears over an older brother, something he would kill himself to prevent.

"Ichigo?" Rukia's voice was demanding yet cautious. His back to her she was completely unable to decipher his emotions, yet what slivers of reiatsu she could feel, indicated his mood had changed. Suddenly he turned, a small melancholy smirk upon his face.

"I know, I know," His eyes seemed to burn with something she couldn't recognize and for a second, Rukia felt like she wasn't standing before a teenage boy-turned-shinigami but rather someone . . . more, someone like one of the taichos.

"Tonight we go hunting for some hollows around her house, right?"

At her nod, Ichigo felt his power vibrate with his desire to once again save those poor souls of the hollows, and the day seemed to pass even more slowly.

_Ah well, the night is coming. _

* * *

And that's a wrap. Totally sorry to all of the readers of this particular story for the long, long, stupidly long wait. I'm sure you are not interested with whatever excuse I can give you, so I won't bore you with the details. Hopefully, I'll be able to whip them out faster now. However, with the recent developments concerning the manga, it has become clear that this story is not accurate or even close to how the manga is turning out. I apologize for this.

Also for the weird thing concerning the barrier and it 'accepting' Ichigo, that was totally made up, but I really couldn't come up with a better explanation. Please be gentle.

Until next time . . .


End file.
